How to Pressure wash house siding
Cleaning your house siding is a moderately challenge to do if you do not have the right technique. Here is an ehow on how to properly clean you house siding without damage.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Extension ladder
- pressure washer or garden hose
- Cleaning agent
- Bucket and soft bristle brush
Instructions
-
-
1
Step one to pressure wash your house siding is to determine what type of siding your house has.
Give it a little tap to tell if it is metal or vinyl. Wipe your hand across it to see if it gets covered in chalky paint. Most tin, aluminum or metal siding will leave the chalky film on your hands if wiped. Vinyl siding feels plastic and will push in easy if your push on it. -
2
Now that you know what type of siding you have its time to see what the best type of cleaning chemical you should use. I recommend zep tnt for cleaning both types of siding. It will remove the chalky paint, mildew and car exhaust on your house fast. But there are more specific cleaners out there for each type. Some are to strong and will strip aluminum siding down to bare metal in spots where it is to damaged/ sun beaten.
-
-
3
Next step is to fill your bucket with hot water and your cleaning chemical. Set up your ladder to where you would like to start cleaning. Setup your pressure washer in an area where you can rinse everything you are working on quickly before it dry's.
-
4
Step four to pressure wash house siding. Is to start from the bottom up," *cleaning vertical surfaces from the top down can lead to non removable streaking in the finish of the surface . To prevent this from happening practice cleaning every vertical surface from the bottom up and over rinse alot*". Pre wet an area that you can reach with your brush and take several strong solid strokes making sure you get under the lip of where the siding meets the next piece. This spot is often overlooked until your on the ground looking up and notice it looks terrible.
-
5
Step five to pressure wash your house siding is to rinse and over rinse. Do not let the area you are working on dry at all until it is rinsed. It is better to work in smaller 5X5 ft sections overlapping by a ft and over rinsing. Than to redo half the house once you notice there's all kinds of missed spots once the sun gets around to shining on it.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Overlap your cleaning to avoid noticeable dirty marks when the sun shines on your siding
Dont clean aroudn your power lines if your home has aerial power Electicity + water + metal extention pole = death.
Do not use metal ladders around power lines this also will = death
