# Spring - Almost here Cleaning



## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

Ok, so we are booking and getting ready to start washing rough cedar homes that will get stained.. 

More and more I hear that bleach is not good for wood. I will like to have some ideas and chemical mixtures that will remove mildew effectively and leave the wood in paintable and or stainable condition. Anyone have success? and with what?

in the past we have use

bleach and water
bleach and tsp water
bleach and jomax water


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## PrecisionPainting (Feb 3, 2009)

I started a house last week used jomax/bleach, I never have a problem everything is turning out ok.


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

PrecisionPainting said:


> I started a house last week used jomax/bleach, I never have a problem everything is turning out ok.


I haven't had issue with that solution but the more I read about bleach being bad for porous woods and actually helping the mildew to return in the future. I am looking for a new direction.


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## CCPC (Jun 20, 2008)

The old bleach is bad for wood debate. I know of many wood restoration professionals who use bleach to clean wood all the time with no issue, and others that swear that it is bad for wood and should never be used. For me, I use it to clean wood, but mostly on Pressure treated pine decks. We don't have many high end quality wood decks in the Jacksonville FL area. 
Learn to use it properly and you should be all right.


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## painttofish (Aug 28, 2007)

Mak, We use a combo bleach/tsp/jomax for many cleaning duties. Sunbrite and pressure tek have many chems that may do a better job but this combo works well and good enough for most paint prep. If you are looking beyond paint prep check out and talk to their rep's about their chem's.


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

painttofish said:


> Mak, We use a combo bleach/tsp/jomax for many cleaning duties. Sunbrite and pressure tek have many chems that may do a better job but this combo works well and good enough for most paint prep. If you are looking beyond paint prep check out and talk to their rep's about their chem's.



Paint prep is what I am looking for, the reason is are re-staining a house we did 7 yrs ago and its filled with mildew typical for this area but its on all sides and some of the other house in the area we did were fine.

So am looking for something different I guess to make sure there is not a problem to soon after we stain it.


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## tsunamicontract (May 3, 2008)

rinse with a little oxalic acid (wood brightener). By changing the ph of the wood to the acidic side, you are making it more difficult for mold and mildew to return.


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## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

I picked my first patio up to clean this year. Along with a large exterior repaint on the same job. It's been great weather here this week too - around 68/70 degrees :icon_cool:

I got one exterior finished the other day and moving on to the next on Monday.


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## painttofish (Aug 28, 2007)

TooledUp said:


> I picked my first patio up to clean this year. Along with a large exterior repaint on the same job. It's been great weather here this week too - around 68/70 degrees :icon_cool:
> 
> I got one exterior finished the other day and moving on to the next on Monday.



Yea well I still got a foot of snow in my back yard. So screw off bagpipe:jester:


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## YubaPaintPro (Mar 2, 2008)

painttofish said:


> Yea well I still got a foot of snow in my back yard. So screw off bagpipe:jester:


:thumbup: :no: :notworthy:


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## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

painttofish said:


> Yea well I still got a foot of snow in my back yard. So screw off bagpipe:jester:


Yeah, it'snow joke :whistling2:

We aren't out of the woods yet. We can get snow over Easter so this is a bit of a freak. Our safest time is >Easter onwards.


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## tsunamicontract (May 3, 2008)

yah, 3-7 inches predicted here for tomorrow; Southern WI. Looks like I'm putting off my exteriors a little longer and I don't have any int. lined up for next week. I think I will go to CO and do some snowboarding in the 5 feet of snow they got/are getting.


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## painttofish (Aug 28, 2007)

TooledUp said:


> Yeah, it'snow joke :whistling2:
> 
> We aren't out of the woods yet. We can get snow over Easter so this is a bit of a freak. Our safest time is >Easter onwards.


Just messin! Sounds like our winter/spring may be closer than I thought. Finally melting here but we still have some to go.


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## cande (Apr 24, 2008)

MAK-Deco said:


> Ok, so we are booking and getting ready to start washing rough cedar homes that will get stained..
> 
> More and more I hear that bleach is not good for wood. I will like to have some ideas and chemical mixtures that will remove mildew effectively and leave the wood in paintable and or stainable condition. Anyone have success? and with what?
> 
> ...


 
All the exterior wood guys say to use a percarb or oxygenated bleach similar to OxyClean (sold at walmart). I tried it and wasn't impressed. I still haven't seen anything that will kill mildew and remove the mildew stains like bleach. They say that chlorine deteriorates the wood and doesn't give you as sound a surface to paint but if you prewet, and or dilute, and or power wash/rinse well - sounds like it wouldn't deteriorate that fast IMO.

I also agree that neutralizing/brightening is a good idea. :thumbsup:


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## cande (Apr 24, 2008)

MAK-Deco said:


> I haven't had issue with that solution but the more I read about bleach being bad for porous woods and actually helping the mildew to return in the future. I am looking for a new direction.


 
I have never heard anything about bleach making the wood more susceptable to future mildew. Not saying it couldn't be true - just that I haven't heard of it.


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

I have heard different things about bleach. That it "closes the pores" of wood. I bet everyone says something different about bleach. 

I had a deck guy, does NOTHING but decks recommend this:

http://www.wolman.com/pdf\datasheets\P_27_118.pdf


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## cande (Apr 24, 2008)

nEighter said:


> I have heard different things about bleach. That it "closes the pores" of wood. I bet everyone says something different about bleach.
> 
> I had a deck guy, does NOTHING but decks recommend this:
> 
> http://www.wolman.com/pdf\datasheets\P_27_118.pdf


 
Neighter, 

That is a stripper for removing previous coatings (stain). Wolman does make a cleaner/brightener in one but it doesn't work as well as good ole bleach (for removing mildew and mildew stains) IMO. It does a better job of brightening wood to it's true color than bleach, though. But if you are going to put a solid or a semi-solid on it, than that shouldn't matter much. An example: I was washing a deck (had solid stain on it) w/ the Wolman cleaner/brightener and I noticed some black streaks that it didn't clean up. So I hit it with some 50/50 bleach water with a touch of simple green in it. Then I went back to work on other parts of the deck. When I re-checked the streaks 5 minutes later they were gone. That was the end of the Wolman stuff. I put it away and finished with the bleach/water/simple green mixture. Just my observations....:thumbup:


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## Rick the painter (Mar 30, 2009)

MAK-Deco said:


> Paint prep is what I am looking for, the reason is are re-staining a house we did 7 yrs ago and its filled with mildew typical for this area but its on all sides and some of the other house in the area we did were fine.
> 
> So am looking for something different I guess to make sure there is not a problem to soon after we stain it.


 Im not sure if its still available Mac but Pittsburgh used to have a product called mildew check.It supposedly left a mildew resistant coating on the wood after power washing.I personally never tried it .


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

Rick the painter said:


> Im not sure if its still available Mac but Pittsburgh used to have a product called mildew check.It supposedly left a mildew resistant coating on the wood after power washing.I personally never tried it .


I wonder if that is similar to Jomax..


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## drums4jay (Jul 26, 2010)

Sure, bleach will remove mildew, but I've heard that some types of mold (mildew is a mold) actually explode and spread spores when exposed to bleach. I've always assumed that the mildew is going to come back eventually no matter what we do to clean it. Our strategy for paint prep on exterior wood is to use a simple green solution and siding brushes and rags to remove the surface mildew. There's always heavy areas with staining left once we're done cleaning, even if we scrub them thoroughly.


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## clevegoddard (Aug 24, 2012)

Scrub mold-infected areas with a sponge or soft cloth soaked in a mild alkali. Wash the alkali from the wood by dampening a spongy cloth with water and rubbing the areas where you applied the solution. 

________________
Emergency document drying service Florida


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## RaleighPainter (Jun 13, 2011)

Always use bleach when pressure.washing and mold/mildew is present. leave your sponges in the kitchen sink.. just my 2 cents


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