Pressure Washing Guide

maria · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 5

Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm desperate and I don't know what to do. Embarassed

I have an old house and the mold has become a problem in the basement. I plan to tuck point the brick walls after cleaning them, but one of my questions is would it be safe to use power washing? I could use a wet vacuum to remove the excess water that would be accumultated afterwards, but would it be safe and effective to use a power washer? Could power washing tear up the bricks? Could I do this? My initial plan was to wash the walls wth soapy water, then spray them with a mixture of bleach and water, but the washing that I did by hand did not seem very helpful. Is there a subject line here that could teach me about all this? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!
Maria Very Happy

plainpainter · Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Posts: 234

Maria - don't use a pressure washer in your basement. Your bleach mix probably isn't strong enough. Put a cup of cleaner like spic 'n span into a gallon bucket - add one quart of bleach and 3 quarts of water. Apply that with a pool brush and scrub, allow a solid 20 minutes of dwell as your are scrubbing. Always make sure the area stays wet. Then rinse.

If the area still isn't clean - repeat the above. Eventually it should come clean.

maria · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 5

Thank you so much for your quick response, because I'm planning to clean the basement this weekend. I was kinda thinking along the same lines, but my concern was in regard to mixing clorox with other products, no knowing what the chemical outcome could be. Do you think it's safe to mix clorox with other products? And of course, I will ventilate as much as I can while doing it. Also, should I rinse all that mixture?
Again, thank you so much for your quick reply. It made me so happy I joined Pressure washing!

plainpainter · Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Posts: 234

I mix spic 'n span with clorox, you can also use most laundry style liquid detergents - as they are formulated to work in conjunction with when folks add bleach to their laundry wash.

And maybe rinsing isn't all that critical if you aren't going to paint your foundation walls - but it is never a bad idea, especially if you are going to be putting mortar in the bricks, you don't want to sacrifice the adhesion of the mortar to the bricks.

Just remember to not add a ton of 'soap' to your mix, as rinsing it will take forever..

maria · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 5

That is awesome! Very Happy

I feel so much better now, knowing that the combination will not create dangerous fumes. And of course, having better results by combining the 2, is exactly what I was looking for! Idea

Thank you a bunch! I truly appreciated that not only you gave me detailed information tailored to my question, but also the speed with which you responded.
Have a great weekend! Cool

maria · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 5

Sorry to come back with more questions, but I was re-reading your messages, printing your suggestions when I realized I needed to ask you about the possibility of not having sufficient adhesion when tuck pointing due to my cleaning. So, basically the laundry + clorox mixture if NOT rinsed could lessen the adhesion of the mortar? Question

If you happen to know, what type of mortar would work best on washed bricks after this type of mixture? As I read again your message, I was reconsidering my decision of not rinsing the walls. Exclamation

Or, maybe I could wait a month before rinsing them to see if any leftover mold shows up? This way I might not waste time on rinsing, if the cleaning needs to be repeated.

plainpainter · Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Posts: 234

Maria, cleaning always require rinsing - period. That is just how it is. Especially sometimes you need to rinse the 'used' up cleaner in order to reapply your chems in order to finish off killing the remaining mildew.

maria · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 5

I could NOT agree with you more! I already did the cleaning (a lot of heavy duty work) and I can't even imagine how it would have all been without the rinsing. Thank you again for all your wonderful and supportive help.

vesper · Joined: 30 Oct 2010 Posts: 6

They are ecological and do not require power, you'd just have to spray them onto the walls. You would have to rinse them and probably repeatedly spray. But I have used enzymes inside and out, and they always do the trick impressively. Good luck!