Good Morning,
I have cedar shingles on an addition that were treated with linseed oil; unfortunately, this does not prevent mildew. I 95% successfully got rid of the mildew by scrubbing with a brush. I bought a mildew treatment made for mildew on cedar that you mix with bleach and water. This really did not do much as you can imagine. I wound up using bleach and A LOT of ‘elbow grease’.
The rest of my house has cedar shingles treated with bleaching oil, which I plan on applying to the addition. Does anyone know of a treatment or chemical that works well on mildew?
I appreciate any feedback!
Replies
Home Cheapo has a very good mildew wash called Deck Prep , by Behr.
Hardly needs any scrubbing, but make sure you do scrub it as you rinse, otherwise it leaves a white film on the wood surface. I use this to clean my decks and it does a wonderful job.
I have cedar siding that gets mildew and it is very easily removed without much elbow grease with a product I get at Lowes called Mildewcheck by Olympic. There are other versions of this...I think one is called Jomax. You add bleach to the olympic product and I believe that is the active ingredient. I have even done a good job of it with water/25% bleach /TSP. Now, my siding is smooth, and that may make it easier. Are you sure you had enough bleach, and if so, are you sure that the black stuff that isn't coming off is mildew and not dirt? I can tell you for sure that bleach applied to mildew with a paper towel and no scrubbing takes it from grey to brown to yellow in about 20 minutes, and when you rinse with water, the yellow goes away.
I always thought of mildew as "natural", and you want the "natural look" of cedar, right? Just let it go for another 5-10 years and it will develop a nice patina. Or do what most people do at this stage and stain it.