The outside of your home often gets overlooked when it comes to cleaning. You spend a lot of time cleaning the kitchen, the bathrooms, the living room, and more, but rarely think to clean the outside of your house. Soffits and fascias are exposed to the elements, birds, bugs, and plants. They tend to get dirty, causing your house to look less pleasing to the eye.
Cleaning your uPVC soffits and fascias is easier than cleaning those made of wood or other materials. You can use a pressure washer and a telescopic gutter cleaner. You can also clean the soffits and fascias without using a pressure washer. You’ll need a ladder, a bucket of soapy water, and a sponge. It takes some effort but makes your home look nicer.
This article is about the methods and tools used to clean uPVC soffits and fascias most efficiently. Keep reading to find out the best ways to complete this task.
How Should You Clean uPVC Soffits and Fascias?
You can clean them in a few different ways. Let’s look at the steps and equipment you’ll need for each.
Cleaning with a Pressure Washer
If you have a pressure washer, you can try using it to clean uPVC soffits and fascias. Start by just rinsing them with water. You can use a low-pressure setting to wash away loose dirt and debris.
Now you’ll need some sort of cleaning solution. You can add a detergent into the pressure washer tank. Most of these should be diluted with water. Read the instructions for guidance on how much.
When the solution is ready, turn the mid-pressure setting on. Then, start spraying the uPVC fittings that trim your house. When you’ve sprayed all of the soffits and fascias, let it sit for a second while you switch to the high-pressure setting. That gives the cleaning solution time to cut away at the dirt and grime.
Make sure there’s no leftover detergent in the nozzle. With clean water in the tank, start spraying the soffits and fascias again to rinse everything away. Start and end in the same spots, spraying in the same direction you went the first time through.
Switch the nozzle back down to low pressure and give the area one last rinse.
Cleaning the Old Fashioned Way
You don’t need a pressure washer to clean your soffits and fascias. You can do it with a ladder that’s tall enough to safely reach the appropriate height, along with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water. Your garden hose is helpful, too.
Mix about half a cup of detergent with two gallons of warm water. If you want, you can add a couple of tablespoons of bleach to the solution, too. This helps kill any mildew.
You can start the same way you would with a pressure washer by spraying off any loose dirt and debris with your garden hose. Then, prop your ladder up and make sure it’s secure.
Take your sponge, wet it, and start scrubbing away. Make safety a priority. Don’t try to over-extend yourself to reach further than you should. Clean the soffits and fascias within comfortable reach of the ladder. Climb down when you’re finished with the area.
Get your garden hose and aim it at the area you just scrubbed. Squeeze the trigger and rinse away the soap and grime.
Move the ladder over to a new position. Climb back up and repeat the cleaning process. Keep doing this until you’ve scrubbed all of them. Pay special attention to places where dirt gets trapped.
What About Cleaning the Gutters?
Some people try taking the pressure washer up a ladder to spray out the gutters with high pressure. We recommend against doing this. It’s not safe. But we have the solution.
Telescopic Gutter Cleaners
Telescopic gutter cleaners allow you to keep your feet planted on the ground and clean out your gutters. You attach them to your garden hose.
The telescoping pole extends up, making it easy for you to reach your home’s gutters. Many of them have a rotating nozzle that turns to the ideal angle for the task you’re working on. It sends water through the nozzle at a pressure level high enough to clean out your gutters easily.
Telescopic gutter cleaners are made of rust-resistant material that’s lightweight and durable. These wands make cleaning your gutters as safe as possible.
You can read about the best Telescopic Gutter Cleaners here.
Final Thoughts
Cleaning your uPVC soffits and fascias doesn’t have to be a daunting task that you keep putting off. Whether you use a pressure washer or a bucket of suds, it won’t take long to have the front of your home looking like new again. Top that with a telescopic gutter cleaner to empty out those gutters and you’ll protect your home from unnecessary water damage, too.