- 1 day ago
The green and black film on shaded house siding is not just dirt—it’s living algae, mold, mildew, and fungus that thrive where moisture and shade linger. This gentle home-cleaning method shows how to remove siding mold and algae fast without blasting the wall with a pressure washer or risking hidden water damage behind the panels.
Using a bucket of warm water, dish soap, and either oxygen bleach or borax, the process is simple: wet the siding from top to bottom, let the cleaner do the work for a few minutes, hit stubborn spots again while they’re still wet, then rinse everything with a regular garden hose. It also explains why pressure washing can force water under overlapping siding and why the shady side of the house needs more airflow and sunlight.
Safety matters too, so the guidance includes protecting plants, wearing gloves and eye protection, and never mixing bleach with vinegar or ammonia. It’s a practical siding cleaning tutorial for vinyl siding, exterior wall maintenance, mold removal, and algae removal around the home.
Ideal for viewers searching for house siding cleaning, mold and algae removal, vinyl siding cleaning tips, exterior home maintenance, gentle siding wash methods, and DIY cleaning tutorials for a cleaner, brighter home exterior.
Using a bucket of warm water, dish soap, and either oxygen bleach or borax, the process is simple: wet the siding from top to bottom, let the cleaner do the work for a few minutes, hit stubborn spots again while they’re still wet, then rinse everything with a regular garden hose. It also explains why pressure washing can force water under overlapping siding and why the shady side of the house needs more airflow and sunlight.
Safety matters too, so the guidance includes protecting plants, wearing gloves and eye protection, and never mixing bleach with vinegar or ammonia. It’s a practical siding cleaning tutorial for vinyl siding, exterior wall maintenance, mold removal, and algae removal around the home.
Ideal for viewers searching for house siding cleaning, mold and algae removal, vinyl siding cleaning tips, exterior home maintenance, gentle siding wash methods, and DIY cleaning tutorials for a cleaner, brighter home exterior.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Walk around to the shady side of your house, the north side or the side under the trees,
00:05and look up at the siding, and there it is, that green and black funk creeping up the wall,
00:11the green streaks and the black-gray blotches that make a good house look neglected and grimy.
00:17And most folk do one of two wrong things about it.
00:20They either live with it, thinking it wants a whole repainting or a costly cleaning crew,
00:24or worse, they drag out a pressure washer and blast at it, which I will tell you plainly does real
00:30harm to your house.
00:32But there is a gentle old way to clean that green and black growth clean off.
00:36No blasting, no harm, just wet it, let it work, and rinse it away with the plain garden hose,
00:42and the wall comes up bright and clean as new.
00:45So today I am going to show you how to clean the mold and algae off your siding the gentle
00:50way,
00:50why it grows there in the first place, and how to do it cheap and safe.
00:54Let me show you.
00:56Here is the thing to understand first, for it tells you what you are dealing with and why it grows
01:01just where it does.
01:02That green and black on your siding is not dirt, it is alive, it is growth.
01:07The green is algae, a little plant, and the black and gray is mold and mildew, living things growing on
01:14your wall.
01:14And here is why they grow on that one shady side and not the sunny one.
01:19Like all such growth, they need damp and shade and cannot abide bright sun and dry.
01:23So the sunny side, baked and dried by the sun, stays clean, while the shady side, the north wall and
01:30the side under the trees
01:31that never gets the drying sun and stays damp, is where the algae and mold thrive.
01:36So it is a growth, and it grows from damp and shade.
01:39Remember that, for it tells you both how to kill it and how to keep it from coming back.
01:43And here is the heart of the method.
01:46Since it is a living growth, you do not need to blast it off with force.
01:50You need only wet it with something that kills it.
01:53Let that sit and do the killing.
01:54And rinse the dead growth away gentle.
01:57Kill it and rinse it.
01:58Do not blast it.
01:59That is the whole of it.
02:00Now let me show you the way.
02:02Quick word before we go further.
02:04My name is Esther Yoder, and the old household ways handed down to me, the kind I am sharing today,
02:10and a great many more besides, are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
02:14I have gathered the whole of them into a book, and you will find it at EliasYoder.com.
02:20If today's tips serve you, that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught me lives,
02:25all in the one place.
02:27Now, to the siding.
02:28My grandmother kept the outside of her house as clean as the inside,
02:32and she had a saying that fits this exactly,
02:35that you coax a thing clean, you do not batter it,
02:39for the batter that cleans also breaks.
02:41She meant that force is the lazy and harmful way to clean,
02:45that a thing blasted hard may come clean but is damaged in the coming,
02:49and the wise way is the gentle one,
02:51to loosen and dissolve and let the dirt come away of itself.
02:55And a house wall blasted with a pressure washer,
02:57driven clean but driven to harm, is the very picture of it.
03:01So here is her kind of coax it clean way,
03:04gentle on the house, step by step.
03:07But first, let me tell you plainly why not to use the pressure washer,
03:11for folk do real damage not knowing it.
03:13That siding is made in overlapping slats,
03:16lapped one over the next, with little gaps up under each lap.
03:20And when you blast it, especially aiming upward as you must to reach the high wall,
03:24you drive the water up under those laps and into the wall of your house,
03:28where it does not belong and cannot easily dry.
03:31And there it can rot the wood behind and breathe the very mold inside your wall
03:35that you were cleaning off the outside.
03:36So the pressure washer does not just clean the surface,
03:39it forces water into your walls and does hidden harm.
03:43Leave it be, the gentle way cleans as well and harms nothing.
03:47That is why we coax and do not blast.
03:50Now, the cleaner, and here I must guide you carefully,
03:53for the common way is the harsh chlorine bleach.
03:56And I will give you a gentler homemade one instead.
04:00Into a bucket of warm water you put a good squirt of plain dish soap,
04:04which helps it cling and cuts any grime.
04:07And then a scoop of oxygen bleach, the powdered sodium percarbonate,
04:11or a good scoop of borax,
04:13either of which kills the algae and the mold and mildew well,
04:17but is far gentler than chlorine bleach,
04:19kinder to your plants and your hands and your lungs.
04:22Stir it till dissolved.
04:24Dish soap and oxygen bleach or borax in warm water.
04:27That is your gentle killing wash.
04:29Now, I will be honest.
04:31For a very heavy growth,
04:32some folk reach for the stronger chlorine bleach,
04:35and it does kill the growth.
04:37But hear the cautions on it, for they are serious,
04:39and I would steer you to the gentler wash first.
04:43And here are those cautions,
04:44the safety of this whole job,
04:46and heed everyone.
04:47For whether you use the gentle wash or a stronger one,
04:50these matter.
04:51First and above all,
04:53never, ever mix any bleach,
04:55the chlorine kind,
04:56with vinegar or any acid,
04:58nor with ammonia,
04:59for those make a poison gas.
05:01And I know how you all keep your vinegar for everything,
05:04so keep it far from any bleach cleaner entirely.
05:07Second, protect the plants and the grass at the foot of the wall,
05:11for the cleaner running down will harm them,
05:13especially a chlorine bleach.
05:15Wet down all the plants and grass below with plain water first,
05:19so they are soaked and protected.
05:21Cover the tender ones if you can,
05:23and rinse them well with plain water again after.
05:26Third, wear gloves and cover your eyes,
05:29for you are working a cleaner overhead,
05:31and it will run down on you.
05:33And keep your face out of the drift.
05:35And keep the children and pets well away from the whole business.
05:39Those cares, and it is a safe job.
05:41Skip them, and even the gentle wash can harm.
05:45Now, the wetting.
05:46And here is where the video makers get the order right against the instructions,
05:50and it is worth knowing.
05:52You wet the wall with your cleaner,
05:53starting at the top and working down,
05:56top to bottom.
05:57Why top down?
05:58When some cleaners tell you bottom up.
06:00Because as you wet the top and it runs down,
06:03it wets and begins to work on the wall below it that you have not done yet,
06:07rather than running down over a part you already cleaned.
06:10And it keeps the whole wall wet as you go.
06:13So you wet the siding well with your cleaner,
06:16top down, getting it on all the green and black growth,
06:19an even coat,
06:20and mine to get right into the corners and up under the eaves where the worst of it hides.
06:25For a spot mist stays green while all around it goes clean,
06:29and you will see the stripe of it.
06:31Wet it well, top down,
06:33every green and black patch,
06:35and into the corners.
06:36Now the dwell,
06:37the most important part and the one that does the real work.
06:41The same lesson I give you for every stain,
06:43you let it sit.
06:44You wet the growth with the cleaner,
06:46and then you leave it be.
06:48Let it sit and soak and work.
06:50A few minutes,
06:51and in that time the cleaner is killing the algae and the mold,
06:55seeping into the living growth and killing it where it grows,
06:58doing the whole hard work while you do nothing at all.
07:01Do not rush to rinse.
07:03Give it its few minutes to kill.
07:05And here is a fine trick from those who do this often for the stubborn heavy patches.
07:10While it is still wet from the first wetting,
07:12before it dries,
07:14go over it a second time with the cleaner,
07:16a second coat while the first is still working,
07:19and that double dose kills the thick growth right down.
07:21Let it sit and kill a few minutes,
07:24and hit the stubborn patches a second time while still wet.
07:27But mind this one caution in the dwelling,
07:30for it matters.
07:31Do not let the cleaner dry out on the wall.
07:33It must stay wet to work and to rinse away clean.
07:36If it dries on there,
07:38it can streak and leave a residue and not rinse well.
07:41So two things follow.
07:42Do this job on the shady side or on a cool overcast day,
07:47not when the sun is beating full on that wall,
07:49for the sun dries it too fast.
07:52And keep the wall wet,
07:54re-wetting if a patch begins to dry before you rinse.
07:57Keep it wet,
07:58work in the shade or the cool,
08:01never let it dry on the wall.
08:03Now the rinsing,
08:04which is all the finishing there is,
08:06and it needs no force.
08:08Once the cleaner has sat and killed the growth,
08:11you take your plain garden hose,
08:13just the ordinary water pressure,
08:15no machine,
08:16and rinse the wall down well with clean water,
08:20tucked to bottom,
08:21washing all the dead growth and the cleaner away.
08:24And you will see it come away as you rinse,
08:27the green and black running off
08:29and the clean, bright wall appearing underneath,
08:32where a moment ago it was funk.
08:35Rinse the plants and grass below well too,
08:38with plain water,
08:39to carry off any cleaner that reached them.
08:42Plain hose water,
08:43top to bottom,
08:45rinses the dead growth away.
08:47No blasting needed,
08:48for the cleaner already did the killing.
08:51Now the honest word on keeping it from coming back,
08:54for this is where you use
08:56what you learned at the start.
08:58Remember the growth lives on damp and shade.
09:01So if it keeps coming back fast,
09:04the true cure is to give that wall less damp
09:07and more air and light.
09:09Cut back the branches and bushes that shade and crowd that wall
09:13and hold the damp against it,
09:15so the sun and air can reach it and dry it.
09:18Mend any gutter or downspout that spills water down that wall
09:22and clear away anything leaning against it that traps the wet.
09:27A wall that gets some sun and air and stays drier
09:31grows far less of the green and black.
09:34So you clean it once a year, yes,
09:36but you also open it to the light and air
09:39so it grows back slower.
09:40And one honest limit.
09:43If the damp is a real trouble,
09:45water getting into the wall
09:47or the wood behind gone soft and rotten with it,
09:50that is more than a wash
09:52and wants a proper look at the wall itself.
09:55Clean the surface,
09:56but see to the damp and the shade that feed it.
09:59Now think a moment about why we came to believe
10:02that green wall wants a costly pressure washer
10:05or a cleaning crew or a repaint
10:08and to blast it in a way that harms the very house
10:11when a bucket of soapy water
10:13and a bit of oxygen bleach
10:15and the plain hose
10:17clean it gentle for pennies once a year.
10:20It is worse than a plot
10:22for no one had to arrange it.
10:24There is money in the pressure washers
10:26and the harsh branded cleaners
10:28and the crews
10:29and in the repainting
10:31when the blasting has driven damp into the wall
10:34and none at all in teaching folk
10:36that the green is only a growth
10:38that a gentle wash and a rinse take clean off
10:42and that the wall wants opening to the light,
10:45not blasting.
10:46So the plain old knowing
10:48that you coax a house clean gentle
10:50and keep it dry and light
10:52just stopped being handed down
10:55because no one profits
10:57by your cleaning your own wall
10:59with soap and a hose.
11:00My grandmother kept her house clean outside and in
11:04with plain things and gentle ways
11:07and never a machine
11:08and somewhere between her day and ours
11:11we were sold a pressure washer
11:13and a harsh bottle
11:15and taught to blast.
11:17The mending of it
11:18is a bucket of gentle wash,
11:20a hose
11:21and the shade of the day.
11:23You understand the green and black
11:25is a living growth
11:26that thrives on the damp shady side.
11:29You wet it with a gentle cleaner,
11:31dish soap and oxygen bleach
11:33or borax in warm water,
11:35not chlorine bleach,
11:37working top down and into the corners.
11:40You let it sit and kill a few minutes,
11:43hitting the stubborn patches
11:44a second time while wet,
11:46never letting it dry on the wall,
11:48working in the shade or the cool.
11:51You rinse it clean with the plain hose,
11:54no pressure washer,
11:55and you rinse and protect the plants below.
11:58And you keep it from coming back
12:00by opening the wall to sun and air
12:03and drying the damp that feeds it.
12:05And your house wall comes up bright and clean,
12:09gentle and safe,
12:10for pennies,
12:11no harm done.
12:13That is how it comes home,
12:15one washed wall,
12:17one rinsed clean side at a time,
12:19the keeping of your own house
12:21back in your own hands.
12:23So here is what I would ask of you.
12:25This week,
12:26or on the next cool, cloudy day,
12:29take a bucket of the gentle wash
12:31to that green and black side of your house,
12:35wet it and let it sit,
12:36and rinse it clean with the hose
12:38the way I showed you,
12:39no pressure washer,
12:41and come back and tell me in the comments
12:43how it came up
12:44and how much greener your shady side was
12:47than your sunny one,
12:49for that tells the whole story of the damp.
12:52And tell me, too,
12:53while you are there,
12:54your county and the age of your house,
12:57for the damp and shaded places
12:59grow the most of this,
13:00and I learn from every one of you
13:03how the keeping goes where you live.
13:05And if your own mother or grandmother
13:07had a way of cleaning the outside of a house
13:10that I have not named here,
13:12tell me that most of all,
13:14for that is how this goes.
13:16We share what we were given.
13:19I read every comment,
13:21and I learn from you
13:22the way the old women learn from one another
13:25across the fence line,
13:27one wall and one season at a time.
13:30Next time, I will show you the old ways
13:33of keeping the whole outside of your house
13:35clean and sound,
13:37the porch and the steps
13:38and the windows and the walks,
13:40each with its own gentle, plain way,
13:43so that between the siding and these,
13:46your whole house shows clean and cared for
13:49from the road,
13:50gently and for pennies,
13:52and never a pressure washer
13:54nor a harsh chemical.
13:56There is a right and an old way
13:59to keep the outside of a house
14:01that runs on gentle washing
14:03and keeping it dry and light
14:05rather than blasting in harsh bottles.
14:07But this week,
14:09you start with the green wall.
14:11You wet the growth with the gentle wash,
14:14let it sit and kill,
14:16and rinse it clean with the plain hose,
14:19never blasting,
14:20never mixing bleach with vinegar,
14:22and protecting the plants below.
14:25And you will understand,
14:26as my grandmother did,
14:28that you coax a thing clean
14:30and do not batter it,
14:31that the green and black
14:33is a living growth
14:34that lives on damp and shade,
14:36so you kill it and rinse it
14:39rather than blast it,
14:40and that opening the wall
14:42to sun and air
14:43keeps it from coming back.
14:46The household kept the plain old way
14:48is the one that remembers
14:50to clean gentle
14:51and keep the house dry and light,
14:54and so keeps its walls clean and sound
14:56without a machine
14:57nor a harsh chemical.
14:59And that is a thing
15:01we are only just starting to remember.