Pressure Washing

[atcaudill]

Im getting ready to buy me a new pressure washer to use around my house and I wanted to ask a couple questions. There are several things that I plan on using this on and was wanting to know the best thing to use on them.


My Brick house
My Awning
My deck
My Sidewalk
and my driveway

Is there anything special that I should use when I go to clean these items?

Thanks

[arkayassoc]

You are going to be cleaning items of different hardness, so it would be good to get a pressure washer that has different sizes of tips, for different pressures and spray patterns.

The brick, sidewalk, and driveway can all take high pressure. However, the deck will have to use a lower pressure and don't get the spray nozzle too close to the wood. You can actually cut grooves in the wood, but most likely will cause "feathers" that will make the wood look like it has been rough-sawn.

You did not specify the material the awning is made out of.

In most cases, the water pressure alone will be sufficient for cleaning. If however, you want to use a cleaner with the pressure washer, you need to consider that when purchasing a pressure washer, and get one that has a suction tube for spraying cleaning solutions. What cleaning solution depends on what you are trying to clean. Most common is mold, mildew, and algae, which is cleaned quite well with a solution of household bleach.

I will copy this post to the Decks Forum, and the people over there will also comment on cleaning decks with pressure washers.

[SteveCoff]

One word of advice on using a pressure washer - NEVER use a zero tip or a pinpoint spray pattern. You will cause damage to something. Also, be careful when cleaning brick. If you have a sand-faced brick and use too much pressure, it will ruin the finish of the brick.

For wood, ideally you don't want to use move than 500 psi. Also, move completely across the boards, feathering out at the ends (lifting tip up and away). This will keep you from making stop lines on the wood.

The use of quality chemicals make all the difference.