Appreciate any help from those that offer house washing services. I’m just starting out adding pressure washing to my services. Have a customer that wants siding washed and windows done in and out. When I’m doing the outside does it make more sense to pressure wash before or after doing the windows?
Wash the house first. If it’s lap siding be careful to angle your nozzle downwards enough so you do not shoot water up and into the siding. It will cause the lap to swell as it’s a fiberboard. More annoyingly, if there is any amount of dirt behind that, it will run down the house and continue to do so no matter how many times your try to wash it off.been there done that. If it happens,your best bet is to write it off and offer to come back the next day to rinse her off again. Are you using any detergent? Do you have a solid ladder/stand off to get you up where you need to be to have the right angle?
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BlockquoteWash the house first.
No question. Washing the siding will mess up the windows. A lot.
If you’ve never washed siding, we can give you more advise on how to best go about it. Over time, we’ve got a pretty efficient system. On my phone and getting ready to leave ( gotta go sing and play guitar!) So don’t have time to type it all out now. You can contact me directly or I can post our basic method here, later. [email protected]
When I used to do PW and WIndow’s on the same day and was just a one man show, I found that it made more sense to do the windows inside first - then PW - then outside windows. This kept me from needing to enter the house after I Pw-ed which insured not tracking any house PW debris or dirt inside. It’s neater this way ( for me ).
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Thanks. I’m hoping to do a soft wash instead of a straight power wash to avoid the water under siding issue. It’s only one story but I want to avoid ladders if possible. This is my first house wash, so any advice, detergent recommendations, solutions, etc, very very appreciated.
I’m in the middle of Kansas and the houses don’t seem to have any mildew, just lots of dirt.
I’m going to solo and figured I’d do the inside first also. Gives me a chance to remove screens as well.
Softwashing doesn’t guarantee you won’t get water behind the siding. It helps, but proper technique is still needed.
Definitely wash the siding first. Go over the windows, as well, as it will “preclean” the glass and make cleaning them easier afterward. Just be careful not to blast water directly into the frames. Rinse the middle of the glass and let it splash outward to the frames. Rinse the glass first and last.
I like to clean the inside windows first after power washing, as it gives the siding a little more time to drip dry. I wear booties and bring an extra shirt so I’m more presentable after the grungy work of pw’ing.
Also, check out the sister forum to this site, pressurewashingresource.com for tons of great pw’ing advice.
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Depending on the windows I would wait on doing the insides until after you wash. Some frames will allow a small amount of water into the inside and drip down the glass.
Use bleach and water, diluted 1:10.
Rinse first, then apply bleach/SH working from bottom of house to top. Get a step ladder if needed to aim the nozzle at 0 degrees or pointed down if possible.
Water down shruns and trees and gradsfirst so you don’t kill anything that’s dry. Obviously uselow PSI for chemical application, then drop your PSI to as low as possible while still being able to clean the siding.
Have fun!
Any time I do a house wash I always give the windows a quick rinse with pure water, the quote includes it I throw extra bucks on it after its already had the soaped up treatment it only takes a few seconds to clean them clear.
That would be nice. Don’t have a pure water system yet.
What does sh stand for?
Sodium Hypochlorite. Industrial strength chlorine bleach. Also called pool shock, hypo, and occasionally “love”.
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