It’s more than just a house; it’s your home. The outside of your home should feel as clean and inviting as the inside of your home! Refresh your home’s exterior with new paint if it’s starting to look drab and neglected.
It’s vital to keep in mind that painting the exterior of your home takes time. If you’re going to paint your house, do it right the first time. The first step in ensuring that the new paintwork looks excellent and lasts as long as possible is to pressure wash it.
It’s more difficult to pressure wash your home than just to give it a thorough rinse. So, should I pressure wash my house before painting?
Scroll down to know the answer!
Should I Pressure Wash My House Before Painting?
As stated at the opening of this essay, there is a lot of debate, especially online. Some feel it is essential, while others say it should not be done at all.
The only correct response is that neither approach is ideal, and both have advantages and disadvantages.
As a result, you cannot pick between binary options, such as correct and incorrect. Other elements also play a significant part in this game. As a result, we’d like to go through a few of them and attempt to make your selection a little bit easier.
Benefits Of Pressure Wash Before Painting
While you may believe that pressure washing your house outside is unnecessary, you will be doing yourself a disservice if you neglect this essential stage in the external painting process. Even though your home appears to be clean, it most certainly isn’t. When the paint is put to a property that has not been thoroughly cleaned, the paint will not last long. Professional pressure washing will remove grime and remove old paint, mildew, and chalking that you may not be able to see.
Removing Chalking, Dirt, And Dust
Chalking is the process of an old paint surface degrading due to years of exposure to sunshine. If you lick your thumb and then swipe it over the paint film, you’ll probably see a chalky residue from your present paint color on your thumb. The paint will not adhere properly if you try to paint over this chalky surface without cleaning it first.
Dirt and dust are in the same boat. Paint must always be applied on a clean surface.
Solving Mold Problems
You may have a mildew or mold problem if you notice grey spores or green growth on your property. These forms of organic growth are removed by professional pressure washing chemicals, ensuring that your new paint job lasts. If you paint over mildew or mold, it will soon develop and eat away at your fresh paint.
Yes, you should pressure wash house before painting to ensure that the fresh layer of paint adheres correctly to the exterior of your property. Pressure washing is essential for achieving consistently long-lasting paint results.
Drawbacks Of Pressure Wash Before Painting
The goal of pressure washing before painting is to clean it rather than to remove the paint. True, most pressure washers are powerful enough to remove paint, but stripping should be done after the washing process using a scraper, sander, or heat gun for the most excellent results.
Because of two risks, pressure washing siding has a poor reputation.
Etching
Pressure washers can etch concrete and brick under certain conditions, so imagine what they could do to cedar, vinyl, or even fiber-cement siding. However, if you just stand well back when spraying the siding, you may avoid this unintentional etching.
This might imply anywhere from 18 inches to 6 feet away, depending on the PSI rating of your washer. Also, instead of using a stream nozzle, which has a needle-sharp spray that can rip lines into the siding, use a fan spray nozzle.
Injecting
Use caution when spraying beneath the siding at low angles. The intense pressure can force the water upwards between the siding boards, soaking the inside sheathing and insulation.
To avoid this, always spray at a perpendicular or slightly downward angle to the siding. Other openings to be aware of include heating exhaust vents, attic or crawl space air vents, and gaps around windows and doors.
Compare Between Hand Wash, Pressure Wash And Power Wash House Before Painting
If you have the time and energy to do it methodically and adequately, cleaning your property by hand might be beneficial. Handwashing using soap, brushes, and water yields the most effective results.
Unfortunately, washing the whole outside of a house by hand takes a long time. If you don’t want to deal with handwashing, pressure washing is an option.
A good pressure washer will accomplish an excellent job while consuming less of your time. For the ordinary homeowner, this technique is just more straightforward and more practical. It’s also a fantastic choice for anyone preparing their house for a new exterior paint job.
As previously said, you can purchase a pressure washer for personal use, but it is recommended that you engage a professional to complete the task for you.
You may have heard of power cleaning and wondered what the difference is between it and pressure washing. The fact is that pressure washing and power washing are essentially the same things. They follow the same procedure and have the same goal.
The only significant distinction is that pressure washing does not utilize hot water, but power washing does. Therefore, power washing can accomplish the same outcomes as pressure washing when used to clean home exteriors before painting.
Check out this video to watch how to pressure wash house before painting:
Conclusion
Should I pressure wash my house before painting? You can pressure wash your own home, but it isn’t as simple as it appears. To complete the work correctly, you’ll need pricey equipment, and you’ll need some expertise to prevent harming specific elements of your home.
When you do it yourself, there’s a lot that may go wrong. A professional may complete pressure washing an entire house quickly, but it will take a single person many hours. Allow the experts to handle it. Good luck!
