How to Power Wash a House.
It is full-bodied stain over cedar clapboards. Is that different than latex paint for the power washing? Do you use some sort of environmentally friendly detergent? How much pressure do you need or want to use? Should I buy a small homeowner model or rent something bigger? Will I damage the siding? What about my decks? They are au natural... If I powerwash them will they lighten in color so they can be sealed? Does that take professional equipment? The house sure looks filthy next to white snow, plus I have a lot of salt staining all over the place from the ice dam situation. Thanks! |
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| Power washers should be banned! They do incredible damage in the hands of people who don't know how to use them. MORE POWER is the last thing you want around wood! People believe they need to blast the dirt off.......no, let chemicals do the job and just rinse with a strong stream from the garden hose. If you must use a power sprayer for your manhood, use the absolute lowest setting. Normally for stained cedar just use detergent, water and a 1/4 bleach per gallon of water. You'll need a brush to scrub a bit. Do sections and rinse well. Make sure the shrubbery is both well watered and if possible, covered, to keep the detergent and bleach (tho very diluted especially after a rinse) from damaging the plants. OxyClean makes a great roof cleaner for mildew but I'm not sure it can be used on cedar and especially stained cedar siding. The good part is it needs NO scrubbing (on the roof, always good) and is perfectly fine for the shrubbery. |
| There's no way I could do this house by hand... It would take forever and I'd be up and down a ladder 100 times if I had to physically touch every inch. Or my arms would fall off if I tried using some sort of a brush on a stick arrangement. There are areas that I am not even able to reach with a 24 foot ladder; for those areas I can lie down at the ridge of the roof, hang over the edge and spray it that way. There's just too much. Thinking about this, I suppose I'd use a ladder standoff so I could spray under the ladder in front of me? |
| i've seen pixs of your house and understand your dilema. The industry is moving towards spray and rinse with no scrubbing....like that OxyClean product. But cedar has grooves and I'm not sure if they can be cleaned with just spray and rinse products. Worth investigating. I know they are fine for vinyl.... Using excessive water power on wood raises the grain or worse, gouges it. You may have to use a power sprayer just to reach all areas.......but do so under the lowest possible pressure that will reach and be effective......using lowest settin low down and higher setting the further you have to shoot. I think of the TV commercial where the man is going to power wash his deck and ends up blowing away furniture. Imagine how the poor wood survives that! The deck may be clean afterwards, but fuzzy from the damaged grain. |
| We're thinking of buying a power wash as well since we seem to always need one and was just thinking of doing it in the next few weeks (for fence and side of the house). We're tired of renting since it would quickly pay for itself. |
| We've had a power washer for a couple of years. You have to be very, very careful with it. It is easy to accidentally break windows and damage wood. Practice on concrete, then turn it down even more before using. Start at the top and work down. We use water only. |
How to Power wash a House? Hire somebody  |
| In my last house we borrowed a power washer from a friend and power washed the deck. Susan is right. You need to use the lowest setting. I learned that the hard way. In the end the power washer did lighten the deck and we could have sealed it but opted to stain it instead. |
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