How you can clean aluminum siding that is over 50 years old? It's in good condition, but dirty.
By Olga
The key to painting aluminum siding is preparation and priming. All of the chalkiness must be washed and scrubbed off, and any flaking paint removed. In a nutshell, you need to start with a clean palette. Once everything is clean and dry, you're ready to apply your primer.
| Today's Homeowner
Have a professional painter who has done this before give you references on homes they have done & check them and give you an estimate. We just had a painter do our 50 year house siding
and with proper preparation painted our house and it looks great, no brush marks on the siding. It looks like it's new siding. He did two coats.
Syd's 2 cents
Bleach, vinegar and borax are all good cleaning agents
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Our front porch posts and window trim were covered with white aluminum siding about 25 years ago and it has gradually turned gray. Is there a way to clean it back to white?
By Brooke from Baltimore, MD
I have an aluminum white metal shed and tree sap was covering the top front and I washed it down with bleach water and liquid cleaner. It came clean and still looks great after a couple of years.
A contractor who does professional power washing can get the siding clean, and even remove mildew. If you want to try it yourself, get a professional strength cleaner (which comes in environmentally safe formulas that do not harm plants, grass or bushes), and mix it with regular bleach and water.
I have a mobile home that has aluminum siding with rust from many years of moisture running down the sides. What is the best way to remove it without causing problems with the paint underneath?
By Steve Hall from Kellogg, ID
A mobile home that I bought had a horrible rust stain on one part of the skirting; I simply got some of Zessler's I think it is called Bulleyes 1 2 3 or something like that; it is a primer; I put it on the entire skirting and it covered it completely and looked great! I did later paint it with aluminum paint from Lowe's that was recommended. That solved the problem!
Aluminum does not rust. Metal must be something like steel or iron. Perhaps WD-40 will work.
How do I get paint off the aluminum siding of my mobile home?
You can either use a putty knife or a razor blade to scrape the paint off the siding. Furthermore, you can check at your local hardware store if they sell paint remover.
