LESLIE: Rick in Florida, what’s going on at your money pit?
RICK: Well, I have a question about some stains on some aluminum flashing on the side of a house.
TOM: OK.
RICK: Actually, these are – it’s town houses. They’re two-story townhouses; about three years old. There’s no gutters and there’s about a six-inch aluminum flashing on the side. And it has these black stripes – black stains – on it. It’s kind of a [textured, you know, aluminum] (ph) and we can’t get the stains off. And we were wondering if you guys had any ideas.
TOM: So the flashing – you say it’s the edge of the roof. So it’s the drip edge flashing that overhangs the roof?
RICK: Yeah. Well, it’s the side. Basically, you know, you have the roof and then you have about a six-inch aluminum side …
TOM: Right.
RICK: … where you normally would be – there’d be a gutter but there’s no gutter there. So the water runs right off the roof and kind of runs down that flashing.
TOM: OK. So that – it’s probably painted aluminum. It’s probably – I think you’re talking about the aluminum trim.
RICK: Yes.
TOM: What you could try is an oxygenated bleach in an area like that; you know, any of the typical house wash materials.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) And when you use that oxygenated bleach, do it on a sunnier day because if you can get some sunlight to that area, that helps to activate that oxygen and help it clean even better.
TOM: Yeah, but here’s the trick. Remember that the paint is weak and faded. So you can’t scrub too hard or you’ll scrub right through it. If that’s the case, then you have no choice but then to repaint that; which can totally be done even if it’s an aluminum trim piece. You should prime it and then you’d have to repaint it. But I would use an oxygenated bleach. Actually, Flood makes a house wash that is – that works well for this. Don’t they, Leslie?
LESLIE: Yeah. One that’s really nice is – it’s called DEKSWOOD Cleaner and Brightener. And it works great for all different kinds of siding and wood that’s sort of aged and things that are looking a little bit grayed and weathered. And it goes on really easily and it really does a good job at restoring and freshening and brightening. It works great on vinyl siding, composite materials. It’s worth a shot.
RICK: OK. Yeah, I tried using bleach with a pressure cleaner and I used bleach which is like a 5-to-1 concentration of bleach.
TOM: Right.
RICK: And it really didn’t touch it. And then I went up there with Soft Scrub and that kind of knocked it down a little bit but you can still kind of see it.
TOM: Well, try the oxygenated bleach and see if that works. If not, I’m afraid you’re looking at a repainting job here.
RICK: We’ll give it a try. Appreciate your help.
TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Charles Licata
How do you remove wysteria stains from aluminum siding
Charles Licata
I figured it out myself . I used bleach and rinsed with water