Bad Paint Doesn’t Cause Mildew – Prune those Trees and Shrubs – On the House
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Bad Paint Doesn’t Cause Mildew – Prune those Trees and Shrubs

By on April 15, 2014
get rid of mildew on exterior of home

Question

On one of your recent programs you mentioned what to add to exterior paint so it would never mildew. What was that? We missed the product name. We have a serious mildew problem on our 150+ year old colonial. Got some bad paint, we think, years ago, and never have been able to fix the mildew problem. We’ve used additives, and used Wet and Forget on a nice damp day as directed and no recognizable results. Help!

Anna

Answer

Bad paint isn’t the problem. Mildew grows wherever water exists in warm dark places. As far as store bought cleaners are concerned there are only two active ingredients that kill mildew – denatured alcohol or chlorine bleach. We like using bleach. It’s cheaper and equally effective. You can create your own mildew remover by mixing bleach with detergent and water. It really is a great cleaning and killing formula. Keep in mind that if the conditions in the affected area don’t change the mildew will return – regardless of the paint or the additive that was added to the paint before it was applied. When an area is in the shade and water droplets exist mildew grows. Prune surrounding trees and shrubs to let the light in and be prepared to perform a cleaning once or twice a year. Our cleaning formula consists of: 1/3 powdered laundry detergent, 1 quart of liquid chlorine bleach and one gallon of hot water. Mix thoroughly and place in a pump garden sprayer. Wet the entire area and keep it wet while scrubbing with a nylon bristle brush until the black mildew turns white. Chase with a complete pressure washing of the entire area and towel dry the surface.

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