HOW-TO clean vinyl siding with my high-reach sprayer

Watch this 5-minute video that shows how the Siding-Jet electric sprayer works to clean vinyl siding.

HOW-TO house wash with Siding-Jet from Patrick Seethoff on Vimeo.

  This video shows step-by-step how to clean vinyl siding with the Siding-Jet.

Before starting, estimate the amount of cleaning concentrate to buy to clean the surface we have.

First estimate the square feet of the surface to clean. Then divide the square foot total by the coverage rate of the cleaning concentrate to get the amount of concentrate to buy. I will describe my method using my home that you see in the video. The basics of my method can be applied in most situations. 

Step off along the wall to get the horizontal dimension. Count the laps of the siding to get the vertical dimension.

My normal stride is 29" long. My wall is 14 steps long. So (29" stride) x (14 steps) = 406". 406" divided by (12" per foot) = 34 feet for the horizontal dimension. 

My siding is shaped to imitate cedar lap siding. It has a 5" repeat. Counting the number of laps will give me the vertical dimensions. 

The number of laps on the rectangular part of my wall is 46. (46 laps) x (5" per lap) = 230". 230" divided by (12" per foot) = 19 feet for vertical dimension #1.

The number of laps in the peak, the triangular part of my wall, is 16. (16 laps) x (5" per lap) = 80". 80" divided by (12" per foot) = 7 feet for vertical dimension #2.

To calculate the total area, calculate the area of the rectangle (base x height), then the area of the triangle (base x height / 2), and add the 2 results together. 

  1. Rectangle:   (horiz: 34') x (vert #1: 19')                       = 646 square feet
  2. Triangle:      (horiz: 34') x (vert #2: 7')  divided by 2    = 119 square feet
  3. Total square feet in the wall                                           765 square feet

I recommend the brand 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner as the best concentrate to use to remove black fungus. Do a web search & you will find local brick & mortar stores & online stores. The coverage rate that we should use with the Siding-Jet & 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner is 200 square feet of siding per 1 gallon of the concentrate.

765 square feet of siding divided by 200 square feet per gallon tells us that we should buy 4 gallons of concentrate to clean the wall in this video. Later we will add 4 gallons of water to this 4 gallons of concentrate to get 8 total gallons of cleaning solution. 

Steps to clean siding

  • Gather a garden hose, electric extension cord, steam nozzle for garden hose (supplied), cleaning concentrate, and the Siding-Jet at the area to be cleaned. Have the garden hose connected to a faucet, the faucet on, and the nozzle on the garden hose set to off. Connect the electric cord to an outlet. 
  • Put 4 gallons of 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner into the Siding-Jet tank. Add 4 gallons of water with the garden hose. Total volume in the tank will then be 8 gallons.
  • Verify that the spray nozzle on the Siding-Jet spray wand is set to fan pattern, not stream pattern; that the on-off lever on the spray wand is set to off; that the on-off switch on the Siding-Jet electric cord is set to off. 
  • Plug the Siding-Jet electric cord into the extension cord & turn on the Siding-Jet pump using the switch on the Siding-Jet cord. We will hear the pump start, but there will be no spray because the wand is off. 
  • Grab the spray wand, turn the on-off lever to on, and start spraying the siding from the bottom up.
  • When the fan spray pattern will not reach any higher, turn off the spray wand, & switch to the steam nozzle.
  • Finish projecting the cleaning solution onto the high areas using the stream nozzle. 
  • After all of the siding is covered with cleaning solution, turn off the spray wand and the electric pump.
  • wait 5 minutes for the cleaning solution to work.
  • Rinse the siding with the garden hose, starting at the top & working down.
  • Rinse any plants at the base of the wall with the garden hose.
  • Empty any cleaning solution that remains in the Siding-Jet tank & save it for grill covers, patio chairs, vinyl fences, etc.

Steps to Clean the Siding-Jet

  • Put 5 gallons of fresh water into the Siding-Jet tank using the garden hose.
  • Turn on the Siding-Jet & let it pump all of the water out of the tank through the spray wand. This will take about 1 minute. This is an important step. Failure to rinse the cleaning solution out of the Siding-Jet system by this method will reduce the life of the pump.