In late 1979 I was in the cedar sun room business. We use cedar because it was one of the few natural products that could take the weather year round. We made each room from scratch (this is before all those kit sun rooms came out), I would design it, sell it, and build it and I love doing it.
As you can imagine a sun room should be on the south or southwest side of the house to be able to catch the most sunlight. The only drawback when doing this is the ultra-violet rays from the sun would bleach the cedar wood out. I want to point out it takes several years before this bleaching effect really get noticeable.
After a while I started to get calls from homeowners that I had built these cedar sun rooms asking was there anything they could do (they met I could do) to restore the natural color back into the wood. I did a little research and found a product that work great (it's not on the market today because of environmental issues) and lasted for a long time,up to ten years.
This was really easy work and did not take long to do and besides the money doing it wasn't bad either. Everyone love the results and other homeowners in the neighborhood were seeing what I was doing wanted me to take care of their cedar home. Yea, I'm not so dumb I created a business for restoring cedar homes.
Getting down to the process of cleaning a cedar home is really simple but you are going to need help and that help is a pressure washer. Second which is optional but I would highly recommend would be to use a cedar cleaning solution when pressure washing.
The cedar cleaning solution can be purchase from any paint store. Let the person at the store know what you are trying to do,which is restoring your cedar siding. They will suggest a product that they are familiar with because they deal with painting contractors everyday. Have them go over the direction with you before you leave the store with the product and if you have any questions ask them before you leave.
Now for pressure washers. You will most likely will have to rent a contractor grade pressure washer from a rental store. It should be at least 2500 psi and no more than 300 psi. The psi is the pressure that's is coming out of the machine but it is not the real pressure coming out of the cleaning tip of the wand.
Pressure washers that you rent from rental stores are generally not in the best condition. They have a lot of wear,a lot of hours on the machine and cleaning tips. Which means what ever psi you think you are are getting will really be less. Which is O.K. because cedar wood is very soft and you won't need as much pressure to clean it.
Make sure the rental store starts and stops the pressure washer so you know its in working order. Also ask about any safety instruction that you might need to know. Safety glasses, not to point the wand at someone while operating, etc. Have them also go over the different cleaning tips and how they are use.
The first thing you want to do is play with the pressure washer for a while to get the feel of it. Even if its to clean your side walk or driveway. Experiment with the different cleaning tips to see what they can do,if you have a piece of wood try pressure washing that with the different tips.
Now,one more thing before you start to wash your house. Lets find a place that is out of the way maybe the side of the house where no one goes. We want to start here because if you decide you can't do the job or I might mess up. Its best to do it where no one will notice.
The secret of pressure washing cedar siding is do one complete board at a time. Start on the left and work to the right. With the pressure washer turn on, move toward the cedar slowly. When you see the dirt and mold start to disappear start moving to your right. You don't have to get the board clean the first time. You can always go back and pressure wash it again. Take your time you are not in a rush and after about thirty minutes you'll notice you're getting faster.
It takes me about thirty minutes to show a new person hoe to clean cedar siding and most of that time is verbal instructions. Within several hours they can work on there own, they might be slow but they can get the job done.
As far as using cedar cleaning solution, I only use them if the cedar is very dirty or has mold. Follow the instructions on the container and what ever the sales person suggested at the store you purchase the product from. I generally soak the cedar wood with the pressure washer using the largest (40 degree tip) cleaning tip. Then I'll change to a fifteen degree tip to wash the cedar.
Soaking helps the pores of the wood to swell up making it easier for you to pressure wash. Also I soak the cedar wood before I applied any cedar cleaning solution.
Take your time, do a couple of test and you'll do fine.
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