How to Clean Grease Stains off Vinyl Siding

Learn how to get grease off of vinyl siding with this simple step-by-step tutorial. This mixture will clean a grill’s oil splatter off vinyl siding.

Often times, mistakes can come with being a new home owner. In our first home, we grilled near our house and unknowingly splattered grease and cooking oils all over the siding. Yikes! So, by necessity, we had to find out how to get grease off vinyl siding.

Thankfully, it was’t terribly difficult. Some elbow grease and a few household staples later, we had clean vinyl siding again (thank goodness!). In this post, I’ll show you how we did it.

Patio Makeover Update

After sharing the plans and inspiration for my quick patio makeover on Monday, I realized I should have included the infamous “before” photo (you can find the completed quick patio makeover here).

The weather was nice and sunny, so I got lots of painting done — both indoor and outdoor projects (our patio door is painted!). But, not all home projects are as fun as a fresh coat of paint.

The grease stays on the vinyl were definitely hindering the progress of the patio makeover, so the nice weather also gave me a chance to tackle that project.

Note: I’ve also figured out how to remove paint drips from aluminum siding and how to repair holes in siding. If you’ve got old and damaged exterior siding, check out those tutorials, too!

Grease Stains on Vinyl Siding

First, let’s take a look at the damage. There are quite a lot of grease splatters all over the siding on our patio.

There is some debate between my husband and I as to how the stains got there.

My Version: The grill used to sit against that wall. Over time grease splattered onto the siding.

Mike’s Version: He cleaned the grill grates with a spray hose and splattered the grease onto the siding.

Either way, we didn’t realize it was happening until after the grease or cooking oils had dried. When we moved the grill to begin working on our patio makeover, we saw the damage (not a happy surprise…).

How to Remove Grease Stains from Vinyl Siding

For this project, the bucket or bowl size will depend on how much of the cleaning solution you’ll need. This will be based on how big of a grease mess you’re cleaning (here’s to hoping its small!). Therefore, make the cleaning mixture based on the following ratios:

1 cup hot water to 1 cup vinegar

1 cup hot water to 1/2 cup liquid dish soap

Supplies

• Hot Water
• White Vinegar
• Liquid Dish Soap

Tools

• Bucket or Bowl
• Textured Scrub Sponge
• Rags

Instructions

1. Make the Cleaning Solution

First, mix the hot water, vinegar, and dish soap in a bucket or bowl. Mix until the solution is sudsy.

2. Make the Cleaning Solution

Dip a textured scrub sponge in to the solution. Use pressure and plenty of elbow grease to scrub the vinyl siding.

Note: Make sure the scrub sponge has texture because vinyl siding is textured. In order to get into the indentions on vinyl siding, a textured sponge is a must.

3. Wipe Dry and Repeat until Clean

Wipe the siding dry with a rag to determine whether the siding needs more cleaning. If it does, repeat steps 2 and 3 until the grease stains are gone.

Like this outdoor DIY? You might also like:

• How to Restore Bamboo Furniture (Protect + Repair Rattan)
• Repair a Hole in Vinyl Siding
• How to Install a Shade Sail

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