cycas Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 Where I live, it's very damp. It's a river valley and most mornings mist comes up off the river. Typically, our weather is damp and kind of warmish in the summer, and damp and kind of coldish in the winter. It's a perfect environment for things to... grow. Our house has rendered painted walls - and all over the walls GREEN THINGS have started growing. Then slugs and snails have wandered over the GREEN THINGS and made weird little tracks all over the walls. Last time the house went green, we had it painted. If I remember rightly, the painter cleaned it all beforehand with soapy water with a sponge and a bucket. but then he was a man who thought nothing of whizzing up and down perilously balancing on ladders. The paint still seems in good condition, so I'm kind of thinking rather than painting again, it would be nice to just give it a bit of a wash. But how do you wash a two story house? I can wash the bottom of it, but how do you get at the top half? Any cunning ideas or ingenious tips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fee Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 Would a pressure washer operated from the ground do the trick? You can hire them if you don't have one. There are all sorts of cleaning agents you can use with them, but I have no idea what you would use for exterior paintwork - you may find just a wash down with water under pressure will do the trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 I thought pressure washer as well, but when I tried cleaning my upstairs windows with it without thinking, I got thoroughly soaked There is also the danger that it could take the paint off (which the pressure washer has done on my garage door). You could use it with a brush attachment if you could get an extension long enough You can get those extending poles for cleaning upstairs windows, so you could put a brush on the end of that and climb halfway up the ladder. You can also hire or buy small portable scaffold type platforms if you don't like ladders. Alternatively ask your window cleaner or other local handyman if they would do it for you, not the cheapest option but that would be my choice if it were me. I bought a set of tall ladders for the purpose of cleaning out my guttering (and they weren't cheap), but when I tried getting up them, I nearly cacked myself so they are still in the garage gathering dust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel n Hardy Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 was going to say same, pressure washer and brush attachment, or local handyman doing it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 Forgot to say, it might be worth checking to see if there is some sort of treatment you can wash it down with at the same time which would stop the green stuff coming back quite so quickly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 I shall follow this with interest as our white painted garage is going a bit green. I've got a feeling that professional painters use some sort of bleach solution, but you definitely wouldn't want that dripping on your head from a jet wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted February 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 I thought pressure washer but I was worried about the paint stripping off problem. The long pole things don't seem to come long enough, but maybe the idea of standing on a stepladder with a long pole thing would work.... Unfortunately there is a shortage of window cleaners in these parts so our windows have been cleaned somewhat erratically, if at all for some years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnS Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Our house gets discoloured, white to greyish, the whole estate has this problem. What we do, or rather husband does, is uses a solution of bleach on the walls then rinses it off with the hose. Companies do come round our way offering to clean the outside but no idea what they charge. We use a biggish plant sprayer thing to apply it, was from B and Q. What you have to do though is wear goggles and remove all plants and stuff from beside the walls. You could always try doing a small area to see if it helps. AnnS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted February 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Our house gets discoloured, white to greyish, the whole estate has this problem. What we do, or rather husband does, is uses a solution of bleach on the walls then rinses it off with the hose. Companies do come round our way offering to clean the outside but no idea what they charge. We use a biggish plant sprayer thing to apply it, was from B and Q. What you have to do though is wear goggles and remove all plants and stuff from beside the walls. You could always try doing a small area to see if it helps. AnnS That's a cunning idea. How do you get at the top of the house though, it's the upstairs that is greenest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lester Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 You can spend lots of money on it or http://www.copperridge.co.uk/ plus green algae treatment from HG ......but you need a spraying licence so i will do it for you for that large amount of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 You can spend lots of money on it or http://www.copperridge.co.uk/ plus green algae treatment from HG ......but you need a spraying licence so i will do it for you for that large amount of money. It's not my roof that is green (well, it probably is, on the grounds that everything is. But it's not green enough to be a problem, as it's a fairly dark colour and the Green is not very thick up there. Probably because the roof faces North out to Dartmoor and is not the most cosy of locations... It's the walls that are green. And the windows, windowsills, doors... Green grows on everything! The other day I put my car through a carwash, and it didn't get all the Green off so I had to scrub it afterwards with a brush... I think some sort of manual abrasion is required, but I can't get up there to scrub it, the house is kind of tall and skinny, and the land around it is very slopy so using ladders is a bit fraught. I'm deeply dubious about the copper ridge idea, I have lots of copper in the garden as an anti-slug device, OK, I don't think the green actually grows on the metal, but it certainly grows all around it... We are on an old copper /arsenic mine here, I think our Green is used to that sort of thing. I suppose we could give up and paint the house green... I now realise why so many of the older houses have slate cladding on the upper walls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 2 ladders / steps with a scaffolding plank accross them would be easier than balancing on ladders Pressure washer was my first thought but a stiff brush & a bucket of bleached water should also do the job. Alternatively phostrogen, or something like path clear available in garden centres should also do it As to higher up can you safely reach them with a long handled (extended with another broom handle perhaps?) brush via the upstairs windows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trallwm farm Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 The paint still seems in good condition, so I'm kind of thinking rather than painting again, it would be nice to just give it a bit of a wash. But how do you wash a two story house? I can wash the bottom of it, but how do you get at the top half? Any cunning ideas or ingenious tips? Fabreze ? A salt solution will kill off green mould as well as keeping slugs and snails off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Isn't phostrogen a plant food? Maybe that's the answer, give up on having white bits on your house and cover the whole thing in green plant life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 It is but for some reason it "unglues" algae so that the wind / rain will wash it away http://www.gardenjoy.co.uk/phostrogen/phos_algae_killer.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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