Power washing cedar shingles

[cassidy36]

Hi everyone,
I believe my house has red cedar shingles, most of the shingles are gray now with a little mildew in some spots, though the house might have been stained gray.

I plan to use a garden pump to spay the shingles with a solution, from the postings it seems a Sodiom Hydroxide (NOAH) based cleaner works best, does anyone know of a location where we are to purchase such products in the Norwalk CT area?

I also plan to either use a garden hose or a power washer to spay off the solution (plan to spay the soil, bushes and cover the bushes before I start), which would you recommend?

After spaying off the solution would the shingles turn a dark tan or a lighter color? I've read if one uses bleach the shingles would turn a light tan color, like houses you see near the beach, which would be fine with me, is this correct, would it last or would I have to stain the shingles?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[CaroliProWash]

It is most definitely important to know if there is a stain or if they have naturally grayed. Unstained wood doesn't need to be treated with nearly as strong a chemical as a previously stained wood.

Sodium hydroxide is a nasty caustic chemical - if you are not a pro or experienced in this type of wood restoration, you should probably not start practicing on this type project.

You might also want to check out www.wrcla.org (the western red cedar folk) and/or the Cedar Shake & Shingle bureau (can't recall the url). You will gain some invaluable information about the wood itself from either place.

Staining is going to be determined what finished look you want. Cleaning/stripping will take them back to their original color, but UV degradation will begin very quickly thereafter, causing the graying to occur again.

Celeste

 

[cassidy36]

Celeste, Thanks replying!

As it turns out, the house wasn't stained, I was able to remove the grey color using a 1800 psi power washer without using any chemicals.

 

[CaroliProWash]

You used all that pressure and no chems? Please tell me you didn't do that. That was bad!

Celeste

 

[Everett]

cassidy36,

Why would you take one of your most important assets and perform work that vandalizes your own property? If you used water and pressure only this is what you did. I am replying here so that other homeowners who come here and read this realize that this is a project that takes someone with a working knowledge of wood restoration and/or a professional. This is not as easy as it looks and folks should not get the wrong idea. I can tell you for sure that there is mold and mildew in the cedar shakes that you did not remove. Sealing or staining over the shakes now will probably lead to premature coating failure or increase the conditions for the mold and mildew to grow between the shake and the coating.
I would recommend you find a professional or do ALOT more research.

Best of luck!