Painting - Powerwashing options and techniques as part of exterior paint prep

For one of my first steps in my exterior paint prep I will be powerwashing. My local rental places have equipment ranging from 1000-4000 psi. My house is two stories and about 1500 square feet. The current exterior paint is in poor condition.

Which power washer would you recommend?

About how long do I need it for?

How do I powerwash for this purpose? What is the technique?

Thanks for any advice you all may have.

I'd rent one with at least 2400 psi , but probably not over 3000 since you havent used one before. You will most likely need it for a day or maybe a half day. Its hard to give you infor like this as I don't know the condition of the house. Your trying to remove as much flaking , chipping, loose paint as possible without gouging the wood. The trick is getting used to the pressure it delivers and how close you can get to the wood. If you have wood siding try not to spray underneath as you can shoot water behind the boards. Start out with a 25 degree tip and see how that works for you. The smaller the tip the more intense the pressure of the spray. Start out with the larger tip until you get the feel and then move to a smaller tip as you are more comfortable. Spray from a side angle and remove the chips, flakes etc, then switch to the other side and hit it from that angle. Angle the wand slightly downward to the wood when you spray or at least parallel. It just takes a little practice, its really not difficult. After you are done give it at least a good day or so to dry before you scrape. Pressure washers are not perfect and more than likely you will have to do some hand scraping depending. However dont scrape when the wood is still wet. Don't prime until the moisture level of the wood is under 15% . Depending on your climate this may be 2 or 3 days or a week. Um.. I think thats it Oh yeah watch out for that 0 tip

Here's my 2 cents worth.

If you're not going to rent scaffolding, don't rent a pressure washer.
Your house is two stories high, you can't pressure wash that high without scaffolding or possibly a very long extension to the wand. That makes it totally BACKBREAKING. Note: you do not want to pressure wash from a ladder - very dangerous.

I hate to burst your bubble, but, you're gonna end up scraping by hand anyway.

I don't own/rent scaffolding, thus I don't do tall houses.
fred
Deck-Kleen Powerwashing(retired)

Take Fewalts tip. Its not safe on a ladder