How to Clean Your House's Exterior
Washing the house exterior often comes as an afterthought to having good home interiors. It’s true that external home cleaning can seem like a thing you do when you have a lot of extra budget. The reality is, cleaning the exterior of houses should be part of the maintenance routine of homeowners.
What is the best thing to wash a house with?
Keep your pressure washer wand at least 6 feet away from electrical wires and never spray water into outlets. Cover electrical sockets with duct tape or close the covers prior to washing. Pre-scrub the exterior with a scrub brush or spray with a garden hose to remove any dirt, debris or mildew.
What time of year should you power wash your house?
What To Do Before You Start Pressure Washing Your House
The last thing you want is to cause damage or get injured when power cleaning your home exterior. Here are some simple things to do to ensure you complete the job without injury. Do these and you will be able to admire your work while sipping a cold one at the end of job.
Use Eye Protection
Eye protection is mandatory. It’s scary because you would never see guys in a machine shop working without eye protection but then you will always see DIY’ers and people working around their homes without eye protection. Super simple to just wear a pair of safety rated sunglasses to avoid eye injuries.
Avoid Ladders
You want to avoid using a pressure cleaner from a ladder because the push back from the wand may cause you to lose balance and fall. You will not see commercial pressure washers using a ladder because it is a safety risk and who wants to risk their life while on the job, right? In industry people will use elevated work platform vehicles, scaffolding, rope access techniques or simply use extension wands.
Be Aware of Power Lines
Some houses are connected to power lines above ground or have power lines running along the edge of their property. Are you one of these people? If you are just be aware that you don’t attach the extension wand and then touch the wand to the power line risking electrocution.
Clear The Area
Another super simple thing to do is clear the area of toys, bikes etc to avoid forgetting about them and tripping over them. Also clear the bottom part of your house siding of bushes so you can pressure clean those dirty bottom areas.
Do You Have Lead Paint?
Lead paint was banned for residential use in 1978. Still, some homes exist with lead paint exteriors because they haven’t been touched since then. If you think you may have lead paint you need to follow your local building codes to get rid of it.
