Pressure Washing House Before Painting

It is important to have a clean surface before painting the exterior of any home or business.  Pressure washing, the proper way, is the best solution to achieve a clean surface on your home prior to painting or staining .  Many homeowners get nervous when they hear the word Power or Pressure Washing.  This is usually due to the fact of a bad experience in the past.  You may have hired the wrong Painting or Pressure Washing Contractor to pressure wash your home, or maybe had a horrible experience pressure washing yourself which resulted in damaged siding or an unclean surface.  Whichever is the case, the below pressure washing tips will help ease your mind for Round #2.

     It is true, pressure washing can cause damage to your siding or deck if you, or the person you hire, does not have the right pressure washing equipment or does know what they are doing.  At Matthews’ Painting Company, we pressure wash around 50 homes a year.  We know that with the right pressure washing equipment, right tip size, and proper pressure washing methods, that pressure washing can be a successful means of cleaning your homes exterior prior to exterior painting or staining.  Here are a few tips to follow before attempting to pressure wash the exterior of your home or business:

1.  Combine Bleach and a product like Jomax in a 1-2 gallon garden sprayer according to label directions.

2.  Take a garden hose and wet down any bushes or foliage that are near the home so that the solution  does not harm them.

3.  Apply the cleaning solution (working from bottom to top if you are not painting) to one side of your home at a time.  For example, you could start out with a 10′ x 30′ area.

4.  Allow the cleaning solution to remain on the wood siding for approximately 5 minutes.(Do not allow the solution to dry if you are not painting)  Rinse off the bushes and foliage again with water from the garden hose.

5.  Start pressure washing your house working from top to bottom keeping the below points in mind:

• Make sure your tip size or setting on the pressure washing wand allows the widest fan possible.  The spray should be as wide as your 4 fingers spread wide open when it actually hits your house
• Usually, you want the pressure washing wand to be at a distance of 6-12″ from the house depending on the size of your pressure washer
• Pull the trigger on the pressure washing wand while you are out away from the house, then bring it in closer to start the pressure washing
• Make sure you work horizontally and try to pressure wash an entire piece of siding rather than stopping and going on the same piece.  If you have to stop in the middle of a piece of siding, pull the wand back before letting go of the trigger
• Try to overlap each horizontal pass of the spray by 50% so that you know you are pressure washing 100% of the surface
• Try to remove any gray wood, which is UV damage from the sun
• Make sure you are not veining the siding(leaving deeper grooves or texture between the growth rings on the siding)  If you are doing this, you are too close and need to back up a bit, speed up your passes, or lower the pressure some
• Make sure you are not striping the wood(leaving vertical lines on the siding)  This is caused by pulling the trigger on the pressure washing wand while too close to the siding or letting go of the trigger before pulling the pressure washing wand away from the house.

     Did I scare you? Pressure washing is not an easy task for a novice.  If you would rather hire a professional to perform your pressure washing or exterior painting, give Mathews’ Painting Company a call at 574-834-3575 or Contact us right here. Jason Matthews, the owner, will give you the quote the day he comes out. He can also give you ball park pricing on the phone prior to coming out.

Professional Pressure Washing and Power Washing services for Warsaw, IN, Lake Tippecanoe, Lake Wawasee, Syracuse, IN, Winona lake, IN, North Webster, IN, Leesburg, IN, Goshen, IN, Elkhart, IN, Columbia City, IN, Rochester, IN, Culver, IN, Plymouth, IN, North Manchester, IN, Ft. Wayne, IN, and surrounding Indiana cities.  If your area is not listed, please contact us.

Professional Pressure Washing and Power Washing services for Kosciusko County , Fulton, Huntington, Lagrange, Marshall, Miami, Noble, Wabash, and Whitley Counties.