Pressure Clean Your House Prior to Painting

Painting your home is a necessary maintenance task if you have wood siding. The siding can last for generations if it's regularly maintained with a strong protective sealant such as paint or stain. Generally paint is the sealant of choice.

Before painting though, you'll want to make sure that your siding is free of dirt and debris. Painting over things like dirt, bird droppings, and other kinds of filth is a bad idea because if that filth comes loose, so does the paint that covers it, leaving an unprotected and unsightly spot on your home.

The best way to blast away the grime is with an electric pressure washer, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do so. While pressure washers can pack power capable of stripping the old paint, that's not what you want to do here. Use enough pressure to get your siding clean, but not so strong that you strip paint.

You want to limit the amount of water coming into contact with raw, untreated wood. Removing paint with a gas pressure washer will saturate the raw, untreated wood underneath. This can cause water damage and weaken your siding.

Start by spraying with clean water to knock off the larger chunks and globs of dirt and mossy build-up. The idea is to get rid of the big stuff so the detergent spray can penetrate to the filth beneath it.

Next, begin spraying a detergent mixture from the bottom-up, keeping the nozzle angled downward as much as possible to avoid forcing water up under any of your siding. Let the soap set long enough to loosen the dirt, but don't let it dry.

Finally, use another clean water spray to spray away the soap and dirt in a downward motion from top to bottom. Make sure to let your siding dry for a solid 48 hours before painting. You want to be sure you're not trapping any moisture under the paint.

If you can't get around to painting within a couple of weeks after pressure washing, it's a good idea to pressure wash the siding again with clean water only, then let it dry for another 48 hours prior to painting.

Wash Away the Winter Salt

All winter long, your vehicle's been getting coated with salt and grime from the roadways.

The salt not only looks bad, but can also corrode the paint job.

As winter is coming to a close, it's time to think about pressure washing all of that salt buildup off the pain, wheel wells, and undercarriage of your vehicle.

Rinse Thoroughly - Even though your car may not look that dirty, there's still tiny granules of salt, dust, and dirt that can be gently rinsed away without brushing them against the paint.

Blast Beneath - Spray clean the undercarriage and wheel wells with an angled extension wand or a pivot nozzle to keep pipes, wheel wells, and framing from rusting.

Use Soap - Fill your chemical injection system with pressure-washer approved detergent and soap up the entire vehicle.

Scrub-a-Dub - Use a rotating brush on tough stuck-on grime to scrub it loose and save your elbow grease for another day.

High-Pressure Rinse - Start at the top and rinse downward in smooth side-to-side overlapping strokes with detergent-free water to blast away all soap and grime.

Spray With Care - Pay attention, keep some distance, and angle your wand to avoid causing damage. Start with the wand a couple of feet from the surface and gradually move closer if you need more pressure.