Are you thinking about pressure or power washing your home’s hard outdoor surfaces? Or are you considering washing your house to prepare it for painting? What about the wooden surfaces like a deck or lanai?
Cautions
If you are thinking of doing it yourself, think twice about it. It’s not easy to handle a pressure washer, and one can cause considerable damage to surfaces you might mistakenly think of as sturdy or impermeable.
In addition, a person or pet that has been hit with the stream from a pressure washer or power washer can sustain significant, even fatal, damage.
Mistakes are easy to make with these machines, surfaces ruined, stain or paint or siding removed, causing flooding, breakage, and other severe damages to your home or other outside surfaces. The damage to living beings, like people or pets, can be incalculable, leaving them seriously injured.
For example, if you are thinking of using a pressure or power washer on your house, the incorrect pressure can strip your house of siding, break the windows in the spray path, and cause flooding and resultant mold and mildew to all soaked areas.
Alternatives
Let’s face it; most people aren’t prepared to do a pressure wash on their homes or properties.
However, you have some choices open to you. Most communities have local companies that specialize in pressure or power washing. In addition, your landscaping company, Custom Acres, offers pressure washing as one of its services.
What can be pressure washed?
- The easiest and most obvious thing that can be pressure-washed at home is probably the driveway. Most driveways are concrete, but it stains easily. For a surface like this, pressure washing is faster than most other methods.
- Your deck and fences and other stained wood surfaces can be pressure washed. If the pressure is too high for the wood, it can strip the stain off the wood. Your manufacturer can give you your deck’s pressure range or other wood surfaces can handle.
- Like pathways and sidewalks, Brick surfaces might have damage from pressure washing if the composite between the bricks is washed out.
- Your vehicles, including cars, boats, and RVs, can be pressure washed, but, again, check with the vehicle manufacturer or the pressure or power washer manufacturer for the correct settings. Ensure your vehicle doors, windows, and sunroofs can be shut tightly to prevent leaks. It will be tempting to up the settings or hold the spray closer to the tires, but they can be damaged by too much pressure.
Prepare the areas around the area to be washed. Loose material will need to be cleared from all surfaces to be washed. A leaf blower or broom would work well for clearing pavement or cement. Cover doors, windows, and other surfaces close to the area.
Plants near the edges of the surface to be washed should be covered to prevent damage from detergents. (Make sure to remove the covers as soon as possible so the plants can breathe again.)
Determine which end of the driveway or surface is higher, and plan to start at the higher end. Follow the way the water flows, so it will follow gravity as it drains.
Driveways may need to be degreased before power washing. Your washer may have an attachment for applying degreaser, but scrub it into the stains.
Pressure or power washers use specific detergents on specific pressure washers. Other preparations could cause damage to the surfaces and the washer.
Some surfaces will need to be resealed after the surface has been washed. The high pressure can cause small cracks to develop on surfaces and lead to more damage.
Choose wisely
As you can tell, pressure washing or power washing can be a much more complicated process if you try to do it yourself. If you are uncertain about doing the job, hire a professional.
Your landscaping pros at Custom Acres have the expertise and licensed professionals to do the job. However, your chances of injury to yourself or your property are relatively high if you don’t know what you’re doing or accidentally use the wrong settings.
Your Custom Acres team can also pressure or power wash commercial properties. If you have a business, it can restore your outside surfaces and refresh the look and appeal of your business.