Pressure Washing Guide

Midwestpro · Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:38 am Post subject: House Washing Solutions

Everything that is subjected to the elements is going to get filthy over time and your homes' exterior is no exception. Whether your house is vinyl, aluminum, wood, brick or stucco it should be washed every year or two. Your home is prone to all different types of man made and natural contaminants. Some of the most common contaminants are mold, algae, mildew, dirt, grime, car and airplane emissions and factory pollutants.

These contaminants can and will cause premature failure of the building materials through rot and decay. A simple exterior cleaning maintenance plan can be invaluable to the life and value of your home.

tongyun · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 52

Is it enough to just wash the house using the pressure washer? I've seen some of the non-commercial washers where they have a soap dispenser. Is that something that should be used? Rinse the house first, then use soap and rinse again?

Midwestpro · Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:50 pm Post subject:

Yes a soap dispenser, also known as a chemical injector, will inject soap directly into the water flow coming out of the pressure washing wand when the pressure is dropped low enough to create a vacuum. This is a great method for washing houses. It is commonly called "down-streaming" because the chemicals are getting injected on the downstream side of the water pump. This keeps the chemicals from damaging your pump since they are injected after the pump.

It is a must to use a house washing soap mix to wash a house. Water and pressure alone will not clean. Imagine trying to wash dishes with just hot water and the sprayer on your sink. Without soap your results are limited. Same thing goes for house washing, you are removing dirt and grime and also killing mold, mildew, and algae.

tongyun · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 52

That's great to know. Thanks for the tip Midwestpro. I'm going to hop over to the thread about using hot water to see what's been said. It's just about that time of year to give the house a nice cleaning since the weather is getting nice.

absolutelybrilliant! · Joined: 15 Aug 2009 Posts: 26

absolutelybrilliant! · Joined: 15 Aug 2009 Posts: 26

Also, if a house exterior has partial mold/ mildew growing near the ground, does that mean that there are spores further up that just haven't grown to be visible yet. What I'm getting at is, if there is algae evident in one spot and not in another, should chemical be applied to the entire area?

Midwestpro · Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:17 pm Post subject:

A good soap mixture will work for dirt. My technique is to wash low pressure from top to bottom. I use a wide fan and don't get real close to the vinyl. I'm always sure to spray with the overlaps and at a flat as angle as possible so water is not sprayed under the bottom lip of the vinyl.

If there is mold visible on the house I would use bleach/soap mix on the whole thing. Like you said, it could be on areas of the house just not developed to the point where you can see it.

Almost every house we've washed, if it hasn't been washed for a couple of years, will have mildew on it. Normally it first starts appearing on the bottom side of the gutters where it is shaded. If you know what to look for, you'll find mold or mildew on most every house. So for us it is always bleach/soap mix. Not killing mold and mildew is doing a disservice to the customer for what we charge.