How to Clean Aluminum Siding Yourself (Without a Pressure Washer)

Our aluminum siding had built up a crusty layer around the second floor and chimney — the kind of stuff that looks almost like barnacles. Here's what I did to get it off, including the homemade scrubber that worked better than anything I bought.

Quick Facts

• Project: Cleaning aluminum siding, including second-story and chimney areas
• Difficulty: Easy on the cleaning itself — the height is the hard part
• Time: A couple of hours depending on how much surface you're covering
• Main challenge: Safely reaching upper areas, and scrubbing hard enough to lift buildup without damaging paint or siding (and bees)
• Best for: Homeowners comfortable working on a ladder or a low-slope roof — with a second person present
• Call a professional when: You're not fully comfortable on a ladder or roof. Full stop. This is the part of the job worth paying someone for.

⚠️ Before You Start — Read This Part

I'm not a professional, and this is what I did on my own house — not instruction. The cleaning is genuinely simple. The height is what makes this project risky. As I say in the video: don't get up on the ladder if you're not comfortable, don't get up on the roof, call a professional.

Two things I did that I'd consider non-negotiable: I had my wife holding the ladder the entire time (two people, always), and I only worked on the flatter section of roof. If your roof has real pitch, or you'd be reaching or stretching to get to an area, that's the moment to stop.

Also worth knowing: I ran into a wasp up there. Scan the area you're about to work on before you commit to a position on a ladder — getting startled at height is exactly how people fall.

What I Used

• Garden hose with a spray nozzle set to jet
• Dawn dish soap
• White vinegar
• Water
• An assortment of scrubbers (a dryer vent brush worked as one)
• The one that actually worked best: two ordinary kitchen sponges (the yellow-and-green kind) attached to a car squeegee with hair ties — and for higher spots, strapped to a broomstick with tape; this this scrubber
• Ladder, plus a second person to hold it

What I Did

1. Mixed a simple cleaning solution. Dawn, a little white vinegar, and water. This isn't precise chemistry — roughly a squeeze of soap and a splash of vinegar into water was enough.

2. Started with the hose alone, before climbing anything. Set the nozzle to jet and sprayed the siding from the ground first. This is worth doing before you go up — you'd be surprised how much comes off with water pressure alone, and whatever the hose removes is area you don't have to reach by hand.

3. Made a scrubber that reaches. Store-bought scrubbers weren't cutting it for the height and the buildup. What worked: two kitchen sponges attached to the end of a car squeegee with hair ties. For the highest spots, I taped a scrubber to a broomstick.

4. Wet the surface thoroughly first. Saturating the siding before scrubbing helps loosen buildup and keeps you from grinding dry grit against the paint.

5. Scrubbed in sections, then rinsed. Work an area, rinse it, then move on. For tougher buildup I used a slightly more aggressive pad — but carefully, testing that it wasn't lifting paint or marking the siding.

6. Ladder work with a spotter. For the areas I couldn't reach from the ground, ladder on a stable footing with my wife holding it. For the chimney area I worked from the flatter part of the roof.

7. Final rinse and checked the result from the ground, where you can actually see whether you've missed sections.