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Stesso

Perform Power Washing to Confirm Wax Bleed

1:47
8:41
10.4K views

At 1:47 in

Painters Beware: What is Wax Bleed and Solutions to Fix It.

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What happens here

Power wash the areas of the siding suspected of having 'wax bleed'. Observe how water reacts on the surface. A key indicator of wax hydrocarbons (and thus wax bleed) is when water beads up and runs off the darker sections of the siding, similar to how it behaves on a freshly waxed or painted automobile. This test is crucial because if water behaves this way, a water-based paint will likely not bite or bond to the surface effectively, even if it initially coats it, leading to future adhesion issues.

Goal: Use a power washer on suspected areas to confirm the presence of wax bleed. If water beads up on the darker areas like a freshly waxed car, it indicates that wax hydrocarbons are present, which will prevent water-based paints from adhering.

Tools and materials

  • Power Washer
  • Water

What they say

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actually is. There's other things that could be. But when you start power washing it, this is when you'll see the next tail tile sign of wax hydrocarbons or the condition wax bleed. When you start power washing it, those dark areas of the house will actually beat up like an automobile, like a freshly waxed or painted automobile. The water will just beat on it and just run right off. If the water is beating on it like that, a water based paint is basically going to do the same thing, not to that extent, but it's not going to want to bite and bond to that surface. It will actually

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