i hate doing houses .... however i have this customer that has black dots on his siding i thought maybe it was bat POOP ??? anyways what is it ?
it will come off with your finger nail but it's almost like tar ( kinda ) ... what will take it off>>>>???
i know there is some one on this board that has a answer ,and can tell me what it is POOP OR ?
it's about the size of a ball point pen mark if that helps ya..... a quick reply is in order here..


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have a great day and GOD bless!!!!!

I also have ran into this poop stuff too.. The only thing it may be in this area that I can pin point out would be fly poop, grasshopper poop and wrap poop... Yes this is very hard to remove and have'nt yet figure a way to make it easy...Just have to wash a little longer at it..

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They are called artillary spores and as a rule of thumb they do not come off. I have tried everything over the years.They grow in the mulch

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Preston A Hummel

[This message has been edited by Express clean (edited August 28, 2000).]

SO I am not the only one working with those black dots.
Earlier this yr I had a customer call me with the same problem. These were caused from FLYS. I sprayed my citrus cleaner on them and they just started disolving without even scrubbing. It worked great!. Then I had to order more of the same chem later (ran out). This time I thinned out my mixture too much and it will not work as well. The other day It was impossible to get them off. I thought about trying Soft Scrub to see if that would work.
If anyone else has tried that let me know. Tim

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Tim Highfield
ALL-BRITE POWERWASHING

These buggers are not from insects of any kind......like was mentioned above, it is called Artillery or Shotgun Fungus. They come from down in the mulch and propel themselves onto the house.....that's why you only see them on the lower half of the house for the most part.

The quicker you get to them the better your chances of getting them off. I was told once that if you got to them within three weeks of them attaching to the house, you could get them off easily......I could never prove that statement.

When I give a bid on a home that has artillery fungus on it, I educate the customer on what it is, where it came from, and warn them that sometimes they will come up and other times they won't. I explain it this way to everyone and I have never had anyone give me a hard time about it.

Usually I am a perfectionist, but I do not go out of my way to remove artillery fungus......it annoys me. The only time I really try is when it is vinyl siding, because you can beat on vinyl a little more then aluminum. I think hot water helps, but I rarely try the hot water due to the proximity to flower beds and such.

I hope this helped....



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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA

yes it helped BUT........ what is artillary fungas??
i know that may be a dumb ?????????? but i know he will ask. and how do they - it - jump unto the building?
also this building has both alum. and vinyl.. how about using a brush? and strong cleaner?
like i said before i hate house's except fer my own..

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have a great day and GOD bless!!!!!

Hello Every one. What your talking about sounds like what we are fighting here in the Pacific Northwest. We call it shotgun spores. Starts out looking like some one took a pen and started tapping on the wood or siding, little black dots.

We have found that this is just another specie of mildew spore. Out here if you don't get them under controll, the little black dots will grow into big black dots and pretty soon they will take over the whole house and turn it black.

Mildew spores are every where. They are air born and will settle on anything, encluding a freshly cleaned deck or house. The more trees and shrubery you have around the house, the more spores you have air born. Once they are on the house or deck, conditions have to be just right and then they start to grow into the black dots. In other words, the black dots are the spores growing. It's like a carrot, you can't see the carrot in the ground, just the bush above.

We have found that by using a commercial mildewcide, we can controll and stop their grouth. Bleach may retard their grouth but it won't stop them from coming back.The product we use will.

Mildew spores can remain dormant for years. Conditions have to be just right before they start to grow.

Hope this has helped a little.

Jim Bilyeu
Exterior Woodcare.

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wow--------
great reply's
great info.
thanks so much ><><><><><><&g t;<><><><

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have a great day and GOD bless!!!!!

HELP! This may be less of a power washing problem and more of a biology problem - BUT, I need help. Excited about my new home, I became very discouraged last year when I began to notice the little black dots spreading. I have vinyl siding, but this stuff is now everywhere. I felt responsible when friend parked his car in my driveway when he went on a trip, only to return to find the little black dots all over his car! We had a wet summer last year in Pennsylvania, but I also thought that I saw an increase of the dots after my lawn was treated. We live near an airport, and initially I thought that it was airplane fuel or oil. -I've asked several neighbors, and NOone else has this problem.

As a single, lady on a tight budget, trying to keep my property looking nice - I don't know what to do. I would be willing to try to find someone who would use the mildewcide - but more importanly, I am looking for a long-term solution. How can I get it to stop? I have had the same mulch for 3 years now - should I dig it up and dispose of it? Spray it w/ the mildewside - or dig it up and then spray around my house to try to kill off any residue from the old mulch? I don't want to spend teh $$ cleaning my "spots" if they are just going to keep returning. Should I get out now, and sell my house?? Are they going to take over and make big black spots all over the place. Help!
-Robin

Once they are there (for at least a month or so) they will ALWAYS be there. You can scrape them off with your fingernail, however they will usually still leave a slight stain. The only option is to paint over them. Good luck matching the paint! Best advice on this subject is PREVENTION. Keep the wood mulch AWAY from the vinyl, ESPECIALLY in the sunny areas!

Bryan St.Onge
Completely Clean, LLC
Metro Detroit area
586-949-3333