What Can I Use To Clean The Outside Of My House

What can I use to clean the outside of my house?

Instead of having to spend time and money repainting your home, many are pressure washing their homes to keep them looking fresh and new. Washing away years of dirt and grime from the outside of your house and seeing the final result has never been more satisfying for home-owners. 

This article will discuss how to completely washdown your house using inexpensive and effective methods and cleaning products – all of which can be found on Amazon. Check out our other articles on how to clean your roof and patio or driveway if you plan to clean the entirety of your property.

Should you wash the outside of your house?

Not only is keeping your property looking its very best rewarding, but it can increase kerb-appeal. If you are planning on selling your house, cleaning the outside of it will make it more attractive to potential buyers, as they can see your property at its very best. 

Cleaning the outside of your place of business will reflect well on your company and present it to be more professional, efficient, and trustworthy to customers. 

This article is also helpful if you are painting the outside of your home and want to make the entire cleaning and painting process as effective as possible. 

How to wash a house

So, if you don’t want to spend many exhausting hours scrubbing your home’s wall by hand, what is the best and most efficient way to wash the outside of your home? 

Pressure washing your home is one of the quickest and most inexpensive methods for thoroughly cleaning the outside of your home. You can pick up a budget pressure washer for cheap on the internet, hire a professional one to use, or actually hire someone to come and clean your property’s exterior if you don’t want to do it yourself. 

If you do decide to pressure wash your home yourself, a pressure washer is easy to learn to use. Just make sure you wear some old clothing you don’t mind getting dirty as pressure washing can be a messy business.

Is it bad to pressure wash your house?

If your home has siding or cladding, pressure washing it can sometimes do more harm than good, so make sure you research whether your home’s exterior material is fit for pressure washing before cleaning it. If it’s not, you can opt to soft wash it or steam it.

Any other material on most UK homes, however, should be perfectly fine to pressure wash.

How often should you clean the outside of your house?

It’s a good idea to regularly wash the outside of your house. Most professional cleaning companies recommend cleaning it once a year or every year and a half. Not only will this keep your property looking good, but it will help maintain the home’s exterior material, stop mould and mildew damaging the paint, and enable you to regularly check if there is any damage to your home or things that need repairing.

After pressure washing the entire exterior of your home, you may notice that your windows and uPVC are looking a little worse for wear. What are the best ways to clean exterior windows and uPVC?

How to get streak-free windows

We use this product, click image to read the reviews on Amazon

HG Window Cleaner

Clean Streak-Free Used by Professional Window Cleaners Super Concentrated. 500 ml available on Amazon for just £4.

You may think that it is simple when it comes to cleaning your home’s exterior windows, but when you’re left with streaky and inconsistent marks on your windows, you may wonder what went wrong.

By hiring a professional window cleaner, they can swiftly, safely, and efficiently clean your windows at a reasonable price. But if you would like to learn how to clean your own windows yourself, here are some things you should know before climbing up your ladder and washing away.

Using HG’s Window Cleaner will leave your windows streak-free. You will need a bucket, some clean water, some sort of squeegee, and a microfibre cloth to dry. To clean your windows, simply fill up a bucket with water and squirt some HG into the bucket. You don’t need to use a lot. Stir the mixture so that it appears to just be soapy water and not foaming. 

Alternatively, you can use just your microfibre cloth to clean your windows. Simply add some HG Window Cleaner and wet it with your hose, this method is good for cleaning just a window or two. It would be better to use the bucket for cleaning more windows.

Using a professional window cleaning solution rather than fairy liquid or dish soap will help you clean away grime and grease from your windows.

HG’s Window Cleaner is extremely easy and straightforward to use, it doesn’t have an overpowering scent, it leaves no pesky streaks on your windows, and it can cut through even the toughest of dirt and leave your windows looking their best.

However, at such a cheap price, customers have often said that the cap is poor and cheap and can break easily, even before arriving from Amazon. However, one pro of this window cleaning product is that it is good value for money, the 500ml goes a long way.

What is the best way to clean window frames?

Thompsons UPVC Restorer 480ml

If you’re looking to give your window frames or uPVC that extra shine, Thompsons UPVC Restorer works wonders. To clean your window frames professionally, you don’t need many tools and equipment, just a simple cloth will suffice. 

Using a damp cloth, apply some Restorer and give your window frame a good wipe down. Clean from top to bottom. Use more Restorer for stains and built-up dirt. You will see years of grime coming off and it’ll be worth the effort.

To clean your window frames, use a soft or microfibre cloth, as a scourer will mark and scratch your uPVC that will catch dirt over time and leave your window frames looking worse than before.

Dirt, grime, grease, algae, mould, mildew, and even moss can build up on your window frames, doors, and uPVC. Cleaning them can make a huge difference to the appearance of your home, with little effort. Using Thompsons UPVC Restorer can help remove dirt, mould, and algae, and yellow stains from your window frames.

You can do a section at a time, and clean when it is not raining. You can use an old toothbrush to get into corners and tight spots, as that is where mould and dirt often build up. Spending that little extra time to clean all the nooks and crannies as it’ll make all the difference. 

For best results, you can even machine polish your uPVC. You’ll find that not only does this require less work, but it is far more thorough and effective.

How do you get rid of black mould on window frames?

Black mould growing on window frames is very common in UK homes. Thompsons UPVC Restorer works well for cleaning window frames and doors.

However, you may find that after repeated window frame cleaning efforts, black mould on your window frames always makes its return. Rather than constantly cleaning the black mould on your window frames, try getting to the root of the problem. What may be causing the black mould to spread is damp, moisture, and poor ventilation. There are many things you can do to combat black mould spreading in and around your home.

How to clean outdoor wood

Click the image to read the reviews

Woca Exterior Cleaner

Once your house is sparkling from cleaning it with a pressure washer, your windows clean and streak-free after using HG Window Cleaner, and your uPVC is shining with the Thompsons UPVC Restorer, let’s briefly consider how you can clean and restore the wood on your property such as outdoor furniture, decking, fencing, and doors.

Woca Exterior Cleaner is a Danish exterior wood cleaning product that focuses on removing green stains (algae, mould, and mildew) and dirt from outdoor wood. Woca not only removes moss and algae but also leaves a protective layer that prevents the new moss and algae spores from settling and growing. It is suitable for a variety of outdoor wood and will not harm vegetation. You can use this product to clean your outdoor wood manually or by machine.

However, it is a good idea to work out what the cause of the moss and algae on your wood is if possible and eliminate the cause. If that’s not possible, then regularly cleaning may be required. 

Use wood cleaning products such as Woca instead of a pressure washer (which will greatly damage your outdoor wood) or an algaecide that will simply kill the algae and not remove it, leaving dead algae on your wood.

How do you remove mildew from outdoor wood?

When cleaning mildew from your outdoor wood, make sure you actually use an outdoor wood cleaner and not an algaecide which will only kill the mildew, not clean it off. If you would like quick results then some manual labour may be required, but it’ll be well worth it. 

Following the directions for the Woca Exterior Cleaner will leave your wood looking its best, free from mildew, mould, algae, moss, dirt, and other mysterious stains.

Read next: Is steam good for cleaning?