Rare thinking people like you, already know one of the secrets to painting a house like a professional painter, is making sure it is clean before hand, thus ensuring the paint will adhere to it for years to come. What you need to discover is the little known secrets, how to pressure wash a house, like a pro and use a gas pressure washer, clean and save water all at the same time.
Things You Will Need
1. Good Water Source that will provide your pressure washer with the amount of water it requires operating at its peak efficiency. Check your owners' manual for the specific GPM your pressure washer requires. I mention this because in our area the folks on county water near the end of the line do not get enough water volume in the summer months to operate a 3000 psi washer that requires 3 GPM.
2. Take Your Time, using a power washer will, save you time and use a lot less water in the process than a garden hose. But, take your time and do not miss any spots, they will show up when everything gets dry.
3. The Right Pressure Washer For the Job, cleaning a house with an exterior made of stone and masonry requires enough water volume to suspend and wash away the dirt, I recommend you use at least 2000 PSI and 2.5 or higher GPM (gallons of water per minute) in order to effectively wash the dirt away from their porous surfaces. Exercise caution around the mortar joints, the high pressure water will remove loose mortar from the joints. Which is not entirely a bad thing; it will allow you to prefect your tuck pointing skills.
4. Cleaning Solution, quality pressure washers come equipped with a method to dispense cleaners by siphoning the cleanser from a self contained reservoir or additional container of your preferred cleaning product. The system is set up to mix the chemical at a 15:1 or so ratio for you, so you do not need to break out the measuring cup and do all that math.
5. Overhead Cleaning, working overhead is never easy, and cleaning overhead is no different. Be careful, water and dirt go everywhere and bounce off of everything, protect your eyes and the rest of your body. Wear safety glasses, hearing protection, long pants and sturdy shoes. Working off ladders is never a safe way to clean using a pressure washer. Standing with both feet firmly on the ground is the safest method, when you must reach high spots use scaffolding or a man lift with safety rails installed to prevent falling.
6. Caring For Your Plants and Landscaping, subjecting your plants to direct high pressure water and cleaning solutions and the dirt that is washed off a house will harm your plans and other landscape elements. Covering them with a drop cloth prier to cleaning, and rinsing them off after wards using a low pressure garden hose works well, just remember do not leave the drop cloth on the plants for a long period of time, a few minutes is OK, just not all day.
How to Wash a House
1. Get Started, start cleaning on the side of the house that is not in direct sunlight. Direct sunlight will cause streaking.
2. Setting - Up the Garden Hose, begin by hooking up the garden hose to the water faucet on the out side of the house, first check the hose for, cuts or kinks, the gasket and strainer assembly insuring they are both installed correctly and in good working condition. After that task is completed turn the water on to flush out any debris that may be present inside the hose before hooking it up to the pressure washer.
3. Setting up the Pressure Washer, attach the garden hose to the low pressure side of the pump; it is the only place on the machine a water hose can be connected. Once that hose is firmly connected attach the high pressure hose to the opposite side of the pump. Turn the water faucet on full force, and squeeze the trigger on the handle attached to the end of the high pressure hose to allow the water to flow for a couple minutes, this will remove all the air from the hoses and pump assembly.
4. Start Your Engine, with the hoses attached and water turned on to full force supplying the washer with all the water it needs to operate efficiently, it is time to start the engine. Before starting the engine however, we need to, if we have not already, check the engine oil and fuel. There is nothing worse than just getting into the swing of things and the machine just quit running for no apparent reason. Which brings us to another point of interest, on engines equipped with oil sensors that shut it down when the engine oil is at an unsafe level; the machine must be level for these systems to operate properly. Now you are ready to follow the engine manufactures starting instructions for your specific model.
5. How to Clean a House Using a Pressure Washer,
Start washing at the ground level and work your way to the roof to eliminate streaks.
When using a soap attachment, start by applying the cleaner to the house at the ground level.
Apply the cleaner to the house in small areas at a time, not allowing it to dry then rinse it off with clean water to eliminate streaking.
Avoid spraying high pressure spray onto glass surfaces or weather seals around doors and windows.
Avoid spraying high pressure water in electrical boxes, light fixtures or receptacles.
Avoid directing the pressurized water spray under or through the seams of vinyl siding.
Remembering to wash from the ground up, and rinse from the top / roof down will insure streak free professional results every time.
Clean like a Pro, save time, save water using a machine that uses less than half the water a garden hose would when used alone, and have the vest looking house in the neighborhood.
