Another reader wrote in with additional information on Wet and Forget. A recent reader noted “I have a half-gallon of Wet and Forget left plus the gallon sprayer but being 5-foot-1-inch tall, I just canāt get high enough to remove it and only doing the bottom 1/4 looks awful. Ladder? No way.ā
There is a second type of Wet & Forget called āWet & Forget Outdoor.ā It comes in a bottle that attaches directly to your garden hose and sprays up to 30 feet, allowing you to clean hard to reach areas like second story siding and roofs. One bottle of Wet and Forget covers up to 2,000 square feet.
Wet & Forget Outdoor is a non-refillable container, so you cannot refill it with other Wet & Forget products. Other Wet & Forget products will not provide the proper dilution rate when going through the hose end resulting in less than desirable results.
I havenāt used this version, but Amazon customers say it works well.
Question:I have a Traverse Bay model. Up very high above the garage near the roof peak on the wood trim there appears to be an orange stain spreading. Iām not sure what it is or how to get rid of it. My neighbor has offered to paint my trim, but we would both like to know what weāre dealing with and how to get rid of it before we paint. I donāt see any other house in the neighborhood with this problem.
Answer:It sounds like some type of algae, possibly Trentepohlia, a vivid orangepowderysubstance, or lichen. These can probably be removed with either Wet and Forget or Lime Away. Another possibility is rust. If an unprotected steel nail was used on the trim rust could have worked its way through the paint. If this is the case remove the offending nail and replace it with a stainless steel or galvanized nail.
Question: Two readers wrote in with paint problems on their pergolas. The main problem is peeling, and one questioned whether a primer was needed.
Answer:If the wood was properly primed when they were built they should not have peeled. The fix now is to scrape all the peeling paint and to sand it to give the paint a good surface to adhere to. Next apply a high-quality primer followed by a high-quality exterior paint. Alternatively, there is now a very good exterior paint with a built-in primer.
In 2006 we built the two cabanas on tennis courts 5,6, and 7 and painted them. I believe they have been repainted once but there is no paint peeling.
If you have suggestions for future tips or have questions about maintenance around your home submit them toask.the.woodchucks@gmail.com.
