Power washing your home

[A_Spruce]

There's no reason to power wash your house unless you're intending to paint it. There's also no reason to use any sort of cleaning agent. A pressure washer will do more damage than good! Just hose it down with a good quality spray nozzle and garden hose and be done. If that's not good enough, grab the car wash brush and use that to gently loosen any surface dirt and knock down any cobwebs.

As for cleaning agents, Clorox and TSP are definitely not good for vegetation, not too good for paint either. If you absolutely must use something, choose something that is biodegradable. The only time you would want to use something like TSP is if you plan to repaint, but on an exterior it is completely unnecessary.

 

[Donald]

Use a hose and one of the mention products. A pressure washer can force water into places you don't want it to get..

 

[4WD]

Originally Posted by Donald
Use a hose and one of the mention products. A pressure washer can force water into places you don't want it to get..


And nothing like seeing Bubba in his shorts and flip flops running a high pressure washer on a driveway that just needs a bit of bleach and a really good rinse.

 

[wander2039]

Wet and Forget did nothing on our house. Applied it twice over couple months no change. This year used Clorox Clean-Up Original Cleaner + Bleach Spray from Sam's and the vinyl siding looks awesome.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted by A_Spruce
There's no reason to power wash your house unless you're intending to paint it. There's also no reason to use any sort of cleaning agent. A pressure washer will do more damage than good! Just hose it down with a good quality spray nozzle and garden hose and be done. If that's not good enough, grab the car wash brush and use that to gently loosen any surface dirt and knock down any cobwebs.

As for cleaning agents, Clorox and TSP are definitely not good for vegetation, not too good for paint either. If you absolutely must use something, choose something that is biodegradable. The only time you would want to use something like TSP is if you plan to repaint, but on an exterior it is completely unnecessary.


Not true on vinyl siding in a heavily wooded area, with a shaded north side.

Car brush on a two story large house, good luck.

I am going to try wet and forget, if it eliminates pressure washing, I'd me happy.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I think the Wet & Forget works over time and not really sure, but it may work for weeks using the sun & rain combo to bake and wash the grime loose. If you are looking for a product that needs weeks or a month to finish the job on it's own, a heavily wooded home might not be the ticket for Wet & Forget.

Read the label first at the store. That will tell ya' if it fits your project. I'm not sure which is better for Wet & Forget, which made my vinyl siding look 50% better and then I scrubbed the remaining 50% of the grime about six weeks later..... a day prior to a snow storm.

I wanted to make sure everything of green or flowery plantation, was dormant or gone, before using a harsh chemical cleaner near my shrubs and Kentuck' grass.

 

[A_Spruce]

Originally Posted by spasm3
Not true on vinyl siding in a heavily wooded area, with a shaded north side.

Car brush on a two story large house, good luck.

I am going to try wet and forget, if it eliminates pressure washing, I'd me happy.


You know that vinyl siding isn't actually water proof or water tight, right? It is designed to shed water NOT stop it from intruding in behind joints, flashings, and trim. If you spray upwards at vinyl siding, you are guaranteed getting water behind the siding. It does a relatively decent job protecting from rainfall, but when you blast it with pressurized water, you are forcing it into every joint and crack. Water getting in behind the siding is going to cause rot and mold issues, especially if the vinyl siding was installed over other siding, since the nails holding the vinyl on the house have now swiss cheesed any water barrier that might have been there.

If you must pressure wash your house, do it from a ladder in a downwards direction, this way water isn't being forced up under the joints.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted by A_Spruce


If you must pressure wash your house, do it from a ladder in a downwards direction, this way water isn't being forced up under the joints.

This has to be one of the most unsafe things i have read.

For those following this thread, DO NOT DO THIS !!

[color:#000099]Getting on a ladder with a pressure washer wand, especially for the purposes of a 2 story home , is incredibly unwise, and unsafe.
[/color]
You use a wand, that is level or also downward, but you the user are on the ground!! I use an extension wand.

 

[A_Spruce]

It would seem you have completely misunderstood the point of the post.

Regardless of whether you use a pressure washer or a garden hose to wash your house, IF you have vinyl siding, you DO NOT want to wash it horizontally or in an upward direction or all you will be doing is blowing water in behind your siding.

I am not going to get into a safety nanny discussion. If you're not comfortable doing something in a certain manner, DO NOT DO IT!!! But don't assume that your method is the only way or the only safe way to do something.

 

[tbm5690]

I'm assuming no one here is directly applying 3000psi of water to siding just inches away...? I use a second story nozzle and yes I'm standing on the ground but in no way am I forcing water into the joints of the siding and rotting what's underneath.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted by tbm5690
I'm assuming no one here is directly applying 3000psi of water to siding just inches away...? I use a second story nozzle and yes I'm standing on the ground but in no way am I forcing water into the joints of the siding and rotting what's underneath.


Agreed.


I built my home in 1995. I have pressure washed it every 2-3 years its now 26 ears old. I recently replaced all of my windows myself. I had the vinyl off all around the windows, resealed the sills, and removed and in some cases replaced j-channel. There was no rot or issue. And my home does not have house wrap under it, only a layer of foam insulation.

The nozzle is about 4 inches or so away. Most people wash in the spring summer. I do it in july. I'm sure a tiny bit of water may get behind the siding doing this. But its not much.

Unless you are doing something foolish, or the siding , j-channel and sill plates/drip caps over doors are missing or installed wrong, its a non issue.

 

[dinofish]

Originally Posted by A_Spruce
Originally Posted by spasm3
Not true on vinyl siding in a heavily wooded area, with a shaded north side.

Car brush on a two story large house, good luck.

I am going to try wet and forget, if it eliminates pressure washing, I'd me happy.


You know that vinyl siding isn't actually water proof or water tight, right? It is designed to shed water NOT stop it from intruding in behind joints, flashings, and trim. If you spray upwards at vinyl siding, you are guaranteed getting water behind the siding. It does a relatively decent job protecting from rainfall, but when you blast it with pressurized water, you are forcing it into every joint and crack. Water getting in behind the siding is going to cause rot and mold issues, especially if the vinyl siding was installed over other siding, since the nails holding the vinyl on the house have now swiss cheesed any water barrier that might have been there.

If you must pressure wash your house, do it from a ladder in a downwards direction, this way water isn't being forced up under the joints.

This is exactly why I don't like pressure washing. As I have said before, I just use the hose and nozzle attachment and spray as high as I can and have the dirty water drip down like a thunderstorm. So easy anyone can do it. Siding doesn't need to be 100% clean.

If you have moss/algae issue, then that means they are active on your property and releasing spores, most likely from your lawn. Get rid of them with MossEX.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted by dinofish

If you have moss/algae issue, then that means they are active on your property and releasing spores, most likely from your lawn. Get rid of them with MossEX.


Thats what i have. i live in the woods, too much to treat, too much north shade. I do want to try the wet and forget. if i did not have to pressure wash , that would be great.

 

[dinofish]

For moss/algae, one can try Scotts MossEX 3-in-1 Ready-Spray, but test in a small inconspicuous area in your siding first. Scotts usually makes good stuff, and if you are not satisfied, they will give your money back with no questions.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted by Strokenmerc
Another vote for Wet and Forget

No scrubbing but results takes a little time to be fully realized.


Yup! Love the stuff. It works magic on my white tile roof too.

I've had perfect results mixing in some pool bleach with Wet n Forget. The bleach does not inactivate the Wet n Forget, but it does help get much faster results. I use 10% pool bleach, at a ratio of 2.5 gallons per 9.5 gallons of mix (the size of my sprayer) , and 2 bottles of Wet n Forget.

The results last about 2 years.

 

[thooks]

I'm about to hire out one of these "soft wash" companies that comes in and sprays some mixture on the roof, soffit/fascia/etc, let it sit and they rinse it off.

Some companies say they use bleach and a combo of stuff, some say they use "environmentally safe products".

I want my white fascia/soffit/trim to be white again versus the black/mildew look. Our roof has stains/mold/mildew on the east and north. We will see how that goes.

 

[PW01]

I applied Wet and Forget to all of my exterior aluminum. I had a faint black stain left over from algae. That was almost 2 weeks ago and I haven't noticed a thing.

 

[Matarael]

It really takes caution to not damage the actual smoke. It would be a shame.

 

[Matarael]

It really takes caution to not damage the actual home. It would be a shame. I tried once to power wash my house alone and I ended up damaging most of the outside area in front of my door. My wife was extremely unhappy with the situation and she didn't talk to me for one week.

 

[4WD]

You need to really flush the ground well if plants are there … but talk about a bang for the buck:
Get that ”pool bleach” at Walmart, cheap and powerful …
Pump up sprayer … give it 15 minutes … rinse well …
Great for the driveway too …