Every year, property owners cause extensive damage to landscape, homes, and buildings because they incorrectly used a rented pressure washing machine to clean their home or commercial structure. For this reason, you should always use professional pressure washing services before summer or after winter to protect your investment.
Many outdoor items are safe with a good hose-down by the property owner. Lounge chairs, windows and screens, outdoor play equipment, and deck furniture should be regularly cleaned with soap and a bucket of water. But, powerwashing to remove discoloration, heavy grime, and stuck-on dirt, should be done only by those with pressure washing experience and with the right pressure nozzles.
Avoid Pressure Washing These Things
Old mortar or crumbling brick
Often, you will find water stains or discoloration on brick structures and pressure washing at the right pressure will do a wonderful job of cleaning brick homes and other surfaces that are covered with brick and mortar. But, a professional powerwashing company can easily tell when doing so will cause more damage and result in costly repairs.
If the mortar between bricks is old and fragile or the bricks themselves are crumbling, then these surfaces should be repaired before power washing.
Windows and screens
Pressure washing windows and screens is a bad idea if it is not done on low pressure and with the right spray nozzle. A good window washing can remove built-up dirt, mildew, algae, and salts that are used in winter. Pressure washing can strip all this away when it is done correctly.
Major damage is done to windows and screens when homeowners use an incorrect spray pattern, the wrong spraying head, or too much water pressure. Incorrect powerwashing will send jets of water at high pressure resulting in broken windows, torn screens, and even water penetrating the walls leading to rotted wood, crumbling plaster, and mold.
Gutters
Homeowners never know how fragile their gutter and downspout system may be. Rusted fasteners or deteriorating wood may be hidden until a homeowner blasts a shot of pressurized water. And cleaning the inside of your home gutters should not be done with a pressure washer.
Gutter debris needs to be removed by hand, then spray cleaned with a garden hose. The underside of gutters can be pressure washed at a low force and with a wide spray pattern.
Vegetation
For obvious reasons, you should avoid powerwashing your landscaping and vegetation. The problem is not that property owners intentionally destroy vegetation with pressure washing equipment, it is that the pressure can sometimes cause an uncontrollable spray pattern for an inexperienced user.
Don’t underestimate the power of powerwashing equipment. It can be difficult to control, and the operator must be standing at the right distance to avoid unintentional damage to vegetation.
AC Unit
While you can and should clean your air conditioning unit, you should never use pressure washing equipment to do so. While your AC unit is designed to withstand rain and hose down cleaning, it is not constructed to withstand the pressure of powerwashing equipment.
Contact Griff’s Power Washing Services to discover how we can professionally clean your home’s exterior and other outdoor items this summer.
