Grime (and Mold) Does Not Pay

Today was a beautiful day to get outside and to get some work done.  We either could have worked more on the landscape, or we could have hauled out the power washer to start to scrub the house.  Rick opted for the power washer.

As he went to Home Depot to get some ZAP siding cleaner, I started to stage some of the items we would need to wash the house.  The north side of the house particularly was filthy and had started to show signs of mildew and mold.

Rick sprays down the north side of the house.

Rick wet down the house first with the cleaner mixed with water.  We let it sit for a few minutes and then both attacked the side of the house with soft scrub brushes.  Thankfully, we had kept the soft brush with the long, long handle from our camper-scrubbing days, so we were able to scrub from the peak of the house to the ground by just using a step ladder and the long brush.

Step 1: Spray the roof with cleaner.

Step 2: Use the long handled brush to loosen the grime and mold.

Then we moved to the back of the house.  Rather than continue with the siding, Rick wanted to see if he could clean the roof of the screened-in porch.  (Why do we call this structure a porch in Wisconsin but a lanai in Florida?). At any rate, the porch roof was filthy and full of patches of mold.  Rick said the mold looked like crustaceans on the piers and docks down in Florida.

A view from the inside shows the washed and
unwashed areas.

He climbed to the roof and started his work.  Just as a power washer will remove mold from a sidewalk, the same thing happened to the porch roof.  I could not believe the results.

A final rinse resulted in a much brighter porch and house.

The porch roof took a tremendous amount of time and work, but the brown, blotchy roof is now beige again, and it lets so much more light into the kitchen that the transformation is incredible.  Now that we own the power washer, I hope that we can do a light washing of the roof each year to prevent the mud, mildew, and mold from forming once again.

After he finished the roof, I took a regular hose and washed down the inside of the porch.  We are having guests tonight (Lindsay and family), and the weather is pleasant enough that we just may dine on the back porch.