Does your home's siding look green and grimy from the road? Do you feel that your home looks dirty? If so, you may need a good cleaning. Power washing the house and performing sidewalk cleaning are two easy ways to increase your curb appeal. If you want to power wash your home, though, you need to make sure you know how.
- Avoid areas that open
An error that often occurs when homeowners attempt to power wash their own home is they blast the cleaning solution over areas that open such as windows, doors, and garage entries. What is the big deal if the doors and windows are closed? Even with the doors and windows closed, there is not a tight seal from the water, and the solution can come leaking into the foyer or around the windows. You can end up soaking carpet or developing wood rot from around the wet windows. Neither is an inexpensive fix. If this does occur, call your local and professional handyman to come and assist you to repair the carpet or wood rot.
- Using too high of pressure
Another mistake that novice individuals make when attempting power washing is to use a machine to perform power washing or sidewalk cleaning is they use too high of pressure. When power washing, you need to use a low pressure on most surfaces including siding, the roof, and windows. The only two surfaces that can tolerate a high-pressure wash is the concrete when performing driveway or sidewalk cleaning as well as metal surfaces. Make sure to use 3000psi or less when pressure washing the surfaces of your home.
- Not using a fungicide solution
One of the biggest mistakes a homeowner can make when pressure washing the siding of their home and concrete slabs is to forgo the fungicidal solution in the power washing machine. A fungicidal will keep the growth of mold, mildew, and other fungus type organisms off your home and driveway. Fungus love moisture and they can cause an overgrowth of the organism, which causes your home to collect more debris and have poor curb appeal. It causes the driveway to become slippery and often will cause cracking of the concrete, which, if left untreated, can cause the pavement to fissure and become uneven.
- Being unprepared
Not having all your ducks in a row can be detrimental for most tasks, but especially in power washing your home. You want to verify that you have your equipment ready before starting the project. This includes having a helper available to turn the water off and on and other minor tasks as well as having your safety material such as goggles, gloves, and a mask readily available.
- Not cleaning from top to bottom
Make sure you start in the appropriate order, so you do not make more work for yourself. First, start with the roof, move to the sides of the house, then flat surfaces, windows, and finally the driveway and sidewalk. This is critical, so you do not have to keep rinsing the dirty residue off areas you have already cleaned.
There is one way to ensure no mistakes are made: call Kings of Clean. We are always eager to help out.