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mrshunter_gw

Fly Poo?

12 years ago

We just built our house last fall, so this is new to me. We never had this with our last place either...

We have LP Smart Side for siding and trim (i'm not sure if that matters). How in the world do I clean all these little black specks off the house? It is disgusting. I was thinking some bleach concoction, but was worried about putting that on the siding.

All the searching I've been doing is for how to clean it off vinyl siding. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Comments (10)

  • 12 years ago

    I have owned several homes and never had it on any of my homes. Do you have something around your home that collect flies like a lot of dog doo or put raw meat scraps in your trash? I have no idea how unless you power wash it and that is not a good idea.

  • 12 years ago

    What is the height of these specks? Might not be fly specks but something worse. The little spore packets shot from an outcropping of artillery fungus won't come off with a pressure sprayer.

  • 12 years ago

    What is the height of these specks? Might not be fly specks but something worse. The little spore packets shot from an outcropping of artillery fungus won't come off with a pressure sprayer.

  • 12 years ago

    LP is an 'engineered wood' made to look like wood but to be much more durable. I would think it would stand up well to power washing with something like Crud Cutter. The manufacturer has a website. I would email or call them for more information, but I have a composite wood deck that I regularly use a power washer on.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Contact LP

  • 12 years ago

    Sorry for the late response.

    So this is a brand new construction and our first summer in this house. We do have a dog, but he doesn't poop in the yard. We are on a large chunk of land in the middle of a field, with prairie grass and trees. So I don't think it would be from him. I haven't noticed a huge amount of flies either which is why I thought it was odd that we would have so many of these tiny black specks.

    There are cows in the neighboring farm, but I highly doubt they would be from that. We did have a wasp problem, but I haven't seen them lately. My DH has been religiously spraying for them.

    We have a one level home, so the specks are from the porch to the windows, on our beam supports, window sills, siding. It is so much more noticeable on the white beams than on our siding and front door though. I'll take some pictures tonight to show.

    I guess I'm wondering how would I know if this is something worse?

    And about the pressure washer, we have masonry work below the siding, and was basically told you shouldn't use the pressure washer on the side of the house. But I'll contact LP for their stance on that.

    Thanks a bunch!

  • 12 years ago

    It does come off with a lot of elbow grease and clorox wipes.

    Also I did google what fly poop looked like, and that's what it looks like on my house. But I will upload a picture later.

    Thank you all so much!

  • 12 years ago

    Do you have mulch in these areas? That's usually where artillery fungus comes from.

  • 12 years ago

    And I forgot to get a picture last night. But yes we do have wood mulch or chippings, I'm not sure what the difference is. My husband put it in. I think this could be the fungus, but the only thing that makes me think it's not is that we only have the chips in the front of the house. And we also have these specks on the back of the house in a covered porch. So I'm not sure how that would have got from the front to the back?

  • 12 years ago

    Is there a way to tell the difference between fly poop and this artillery fungus?

    I'm looking at pictures on google of both, and they look the same to me.

  • 12 years ago

    I'm not sure how difficult it is to remove fly poop, but artillery fungus is supposed to be for all intents and purposes impossible to remove. So I think the way to tell what you have is by whether or not you've been able to remove it.

    Here's some info which you may find helpful:


    http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/d/d/ddd2/

    http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ul201.pdf

    http://extension.psu.edu/pests/plant-diseases/artillery-fungus/readers-suggestions-for-removal-from-houses

    http://rayhaluchinc.com/getting-rid-of-artillery-fungus/

    I have lots of Bird's Nest fungus, but luckily they're not a problem.