How to Pressure Wash Your Wood Siding

Pressure wash wood siding to remove mold and dirt.

Wood siding is a durable, exterior house covering, but over time it becomes stained with dirt, smudges and even mildew or mold. While you can clean the wood siding with a scrub brush, the process is tedious. Instead, use a pressure washer to speed the process along. When pressure washing wood siding, it's important to keep the nozzle the proper distance away from it to prevent splintering.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic tarps
• Pruning shears
• Pressure washer
• Garden hose
• Fan or low-pressure tip
• Safety glasses
• Wood siding cleaner
• 25- or 40-degree tip

Instructions

1. Go to the main fuse box in the home and turn off the power to all external electrical outlets. Then use plastic tarps to cover light fixtures, alarm sensors or other objects that you do not want sprayed.

2. Cut back the tops of all flowers, bushes and other vegetation using pruning shears so that you can easily access all areas of the wood siding.

3. Fill the pressure washer with a cleaning solution designed to clean wood. Use the amount recommend by the instructions and then attach a garden hose to the water valve. Attach a low-pressure nozzle to the pressure washer.

4. Put on safety glasses and turn on the garden hose and the pressure washer.

5. Point the nozzle at the lowest wood siding board near the ground keeping it 12 inches away from the surface. Move the pressure washer nozzle in a side-to-side pattern to clean it. Continue washing the siding from the bottom to the top until you reach the top of the house.

6. Allow the cleaning solution to sit on the siding for five to ten minutes.

7. Replace the pressure washer nozzle with either a 25- or 40-degree tip, both of which are gentler for cleaning wood. Turn on the pressure washer and squeeze the trigger until no soap bubbles come out of the nozzle.

8. Point the nozzle at the top of the house and rinse off the soap residue using side-to-side motions. Rinse from the top of the siding down to the bottom.

Tips & Warnings

• If the house is two stories, purchase an extension handle for the pressure washer. Do not use a pressure washer while standing on a ladder.

References

• House Painting Info: Pressure Washing
• Lowe's: How to Pressure or Power Wash Home Siding (video)