There is a distinct quality and class to homes that have benefited from their owners’ use of a pressure washer. Not only do they look cleaner than usual, but can even have that afterglow and brightness normally seen only on newly constructed and decorated homes.

Pressure washers come in a variety of specs and configurations, but they serve one main purpose, and that is to remove otherwise difficult or impossible dirt at a fraction of the time it would have taken if done with regular scrubbing or washing.

Aluminum, vinyl, wood or steel can all benefit from a power washer. Prepping a surface for paint is also a good candidate for a washer. And regardless of what you get, you can hardly ever find an unhappy owner who has tried its power and experienced its usefulness first hand.

Just about every person who has seen these machines work their magic not only marvel at watching them in action for the visible differences between the old and newly cleaned surface but the stark difference when the washing is done.

How to Pressure Wash a House

Preparation : What You’ll Need

• Make sure to repair any visible damage that exists first. Cleaning away at walls is fine, but if cracks, gaps, holes or crevices are subjected to closer water intensity, or connect to deeper parts of a house so much so that water from a pressure washer can enter but cannot escape or easily evaporate, it will bear worse damage than when you began.What’s more, it can gouge or cause wood in the area to rot or cause whatever the material is in the area to suffer from water damage over time.The latter is especially noteworthy because the result may not come out for a while, and the initial glee of watching your home get extra clean from a washer can slowly turn to dismay as time passes and the damage borne of the washing starts to rear their ugly heads.
• In line with the above that can be made during the day of the wash, make sure to also patch cracks, holes and damage to wood, cement or concrete prior to using a washer. These can usually need doing many days prior. In fact, for brick and mortar, patch damaged joints and allow to dry for at least a week before cleaning.When you do get around to it, saturate the brick with water first using a gentle pressure spray before applying the soap, to help keep the detergent from soaking into the brick, as would be the case if you did this directly without prepping the surface with water first.
• Choose a day with low wind as much as possible.
• Turn off electricity to open and outside power outlets.
• Cover delicate items outside-- like light fixtures for example-- with plastic and tape. Move delicate furniture and lawn items that you do not want to get wet.
• Close windows and other openings tight. Tape any cracks or openings.
• Trim any excess grass, bushes or shrubs that are touching your house. These are areas that can be problem spots where algae, mold and mildew can collect.
• Use a regular garden hose to wet the plants so that any soap and chemicals don’t adhere to them and damage them.
• Soap or no soap? If you have mold or mildew, use a specially formulated solution designed to kill mildew and prepare it in your washer’s soap compartment or use a separate brush or applicator for it.
• Prepare the right nozzle and settings. You may need to use a softer, wider spray first (or throughout), and only narrowing their angle and pattern after. Preparing for this beforehand can save you time and grief later on.
• Secure children, pets, windows and doors. A good pressure washer can be a certified weapon. Handle with care, but checking and securing your surroundings first is even better.

Precautions

• Wear eye and ear protection. Always wear eye protection when using a pressure washer, even if you don’t expect the water from the washer to hit your face because splinters and bouncing water or debris can enter your eye causing irritation or worse. On the other hand, ear protection is for the constant noise emanating from the machine, especially gas powered ones.
• Stand on a strong surface with stable footing where you can keep a good balance throughout. You are handling a highly pressurized tool and the aim and angle of its release can destabilize your position and cause you to fall.
• Unless you’re a professional who does this all the time and know exactly what you’re doing, do not use a ladder when working your power machine. The force and recoil from them can cause not only possible accidents and falls but extra discomfort and stress over time.
• Be aware of your surroundings when using the washer. Never point the spray gun at any living thing, from people to animals to plants.
• Cover electrical outlets and keep the spray away from electrical fixtures and sources, as well as away from power lines.
• If you use a gas-powered washer, do not use them indoors or anywhere that does not have good ventilation because the exhaust can become dangerous and toxic quickly.
• Do not pressure wash your home if you think it is painted with lead paint. These are homes painted before 1978 as this can lead to poisoning and other health issues.
• Only use low pressures when applying detergents.
• Finally, know that not all cleaning jobs require a pressure washer. Delicate areas would be better served with a brush or softer pressure from a garden hose. As well, applying soap or making the initial rinses don’t require a power washer as you can use scrubbers and brushes first, or spray the areas initially with other materials. Directly blasting some areas with a power washer can cause not only direct damage but from debris or previously hard bonded material that bounced off the washer blast.

Steps on How to Pressure Wash a House

1. Do a thorough check and once-over to ensure that parts and supplies (such as oil) are in place.
2. Fill the needed containers with what you need, such as if you are using detergents for the wash, or use a tank for water, or a separate water source.
3. Connect your pressure washer to a water supply and power outlet (if using an electric washer) or fill it up with gas (if using the gas powered models) and crank it up.
4. Once everything is ready, point your spray gun away and test pull the trigger to release the initial test burst.You may now proceed to use the washer.
5. Pretreat. Squirt very soiled areas or with very hardened and bonded dirt and elements with cleaning solution.
6. Wash. Depending on your particular use, you may need to first apply soap to an area (ideally after it had been “softened” with regular hosed or splashed water first).
7. Apply the detergent to the areas to wash from the bottom up. This is an important and often overlooked step because if you do the reverse and start from the top going down (which seems logical, especially when you consider the seeming logic in gravity helping pull the soapy substance down for easy coverage, but ultimately wrong), you may cause more problems than you’d expect: starting from the top may cause the dirt, soap, and chemicals to flow down to areas that are still dry, and thereby bond with them to cause streaks that are harder to remove.
8. Once the cleaning solution is applied, allow it to work its magic on releasing the bonds of the dirt to the surface, and penetrate the surface, for about 5 to 10 minutes.Then you are ready to rinse.
9. Prepare your pressure washer to a higher pressure setting (this does not mean the highest pressure, just a higher one than the lowest setting). You can adjust the pressure or switch the nozzle to one that is about 25 to 40 degrees.
10. Once ready, press the trigger of the gun to release the initial burst of pressure as well as remove any remaining detergent or chemical in the line. Test in a separate area, then a small section of the target area first.
11. Once flushed, you can now begin to rinse your siding. This time, it’s to the opposite direction from when you started with the soap solution: you rinse from the top going down. Spray at a downward angle where possible, up to 45 degrees.
12. Always try to hold the spray gun firmly with both hands. Try to keep the distance of the spray tip at least a foot or two away from the surface. And try to keep a diagonal angle, ideally from a higher angle going down (unless of course the area you’re washing is higher)
13. Work with a steady hand, sweeping from side to side, at a consistent speed, keeping aim at a fixed area like a row of paneling or bricks at a time.
14. Keep the hose moving. Do not linger in an area longer than you need to, lest you risk doing damage to that area. It may not be immediately apparent, but there is pressure being applied to that area whose effects may not be immediately evident until much later when it dries.
15. Once you’ve thoroughly rinsed, this is the only time you’re ready to move to another side of the house. You may then proceed to repeat the process for each of the remaining sides of your home.
16. Once that’s done, you can move into other parts of the house, such as sheds, garages, cleaning your pavement, washing your driveway--- wherever dirt and mildew accumulate. You can even use it to remove weed and other unwanted pests in the area.
17. When you’re done, give everything a few hours to dry, and you may sit back and gaze upon the wonders of your handiwork, and admire the results for a long time to come, keeping your house looking fresh and beautiful.

Important Things to Remember on How to Pressure Wash a House

Not All Surfaces are Created Equal

When considering how to pressure wash a house, remember that for all their power, benefits and fun, not all surfaces are meant to be used with one.

In fact, due to the high pressure, a pressure washer can do a lot of damage to different surfaces and gouge wood or construction material.

It can also cause serious injury if not used properly, either directly when it comes to contact with skin, or indirectly such as when the initial burst hits someone in the vicinity, or when the initial recoil causes a user perched above ground or on a ladder to fall.

• Depending on the area to be washed, try to do the cleaning process one side of the house at a time.
• Start with a low pressure and work your way up to higher pressures as needed.
• Keep the lower pressure where possible and refrain from the temptation of using the higher settings (even if they’re more fun to watch) because they may do more direct and indirect damage.
• Try to clean away from direct sunlight where possible. Direct sunlight can dry chemicals you apply to the cleaning area faster than you may be able to rinse them, causing remnants or streaks to collect.
• Keep the spray away from gaps. Never spray underneath horizontal sidings, panels or in crevices and holes that connect to deeper portions of the house where water seeping in can remain and do damage.
• Avoid spraying windows and glass areas directly.
• Stay back at least 10 feet or more away from power lines.
• Resist the temptation to use the power washer to remove paint. While this can do the job in spades, it can also damage the surface itself, especially worn wood or even surfaces with cracks where water can intrude and dislodge or remove previously well-bonded elements.
• Remember that pressure washing won’t remove mildew altogether. It can wash it off seemingly completely, but it will soon grow back. For such cases, use solutions specially made for them, or a mixture of bleach and mildewcide (such as the Jomax brand) into a pump garden sprayer.

Criteria for Selecting the Best Pressure Washer for Home

The difference it makes.

Homes are as different as their owners’ personalities, and there is no hard and fast rule in selecting the best residential pressure washer that is blanket-generalized for everyone.

But there are many important elements you can consider making not only an informed decision as to what brand and model to acquire but the finer points of their function that can dramatically increase your happiness in owning and using them, proud in the thought that you came in armed with the right information beforehand.

Here is a guide for considerations to make a proper inventory of your specific requirements and to identify what is important and what may seem like elements you think you need but actually have no use for.

• Context. What are the specific parts of your intended target areas that can dictate the kind of unit to buy? Do you have a large area or more floors that could use more power from your washer? Or do you intend for very occasional use only, such as weekends or holidays when a lower-powered (and lower costing) machine would do?
• Budget. Do you really need the pressure and sustainability from a machine that is intended for heavy-duty use daily (read: expensive), or will a far lower-costing machine that still gets the job done for your car or home do?
• Primary Use. Select a machine that fulfills the main application you require to its fullest extent without any sacrifices. You may be able to do with a portable washer, but if you need to wash a home with more than one floor, or have power outlets far away from the main areas you need to clean, these items must be paramount in the feature set you must seek for your machine.
• Secondary Uses and Future Possibilities. Do not neglect secondary uses because even if you only use the machine for a particular job infrequently, you still need to have a machine that can do the job at such times. Unless such secondary uses can be ignored, even this lower common denominator is required to be a key point to consider.
• Intensity Desired. Sometimes, when selecting the best pressure washer for home, you just need power simply for power’s sake, such as, say, if you’d also like to have the option to blast peel the paint off your garage or live in an area where algae and trees make for heavy caked-on dirt on your wooden walls and floor that can be very difficult to remove. Higher PSI levels would do you plenty of good in these cases. Just don’t forget GPM (gallons per minute) ratings that wash out what you blasted away efficiently and can mean the difference in saving you time.
• Operational Preference. If you work mostly nearest your home or garage, any of the regular electric pressure washers will do, while having a larger area to operate or clean may require a washer that isn’t dependent on a faucet for a water source or an electrical outlet nearby; in which case a gas powered washer would do the job better
• Convenience. A small portable washer might be enough to get the job done, but more extensive uses may require larger machines that have receptacles and containers for everything you need on the same machine without having to reach out and connect different things together. Even the convenience of easy-to-select all-in-one nozzles that can change spray patterns from the same nozzle might be your preference over others that require the nozzles to be removed and clipped on. Longer hoses and wires on reels may also be more convenient depending on your application, just as having the power of larger machines is fine if you can have the transportability provided by easy, never-flat pneumatic tires are also attached.
• Location. Some brands and models require more TLC depending on your location, just as there are models specifically made for a particular job. For example, you might choose a machine based on your proximity to a faucet as a water source while in other cases, you can feed off a natural source like a well or pond instead.
• Ability to Maintain. Related to being mindful of your location as noted above, you don’t have to be a mechanic, but you may need to keep tabs on your machine in certain climates or seasons, such as washers that need stabilizing before storage for winter.
• Availability of Parts and Accessories in Your Area. Having a popular and wonderful machine is great, but if something goes wrong and your location doesn’t have a service center nearby or parts readily available in a physical retailer nearby, it may require you to drive a long way for hours seeking the needed part, particularly if such a part isn’t readily available for purchase online as well; something some users have found the hard way even in this day and age of easy online availability.
• Customer Service. This is perhaps one of the most important if not the most important criterion for making your choice, next only to the overall specifications and quality of manufacture of the product itself, as it can mean the difference between sleeping well at night and a pleasant experience even during times of needed repair, and a nightmare scenario where you will need to spend hours and a lot more money (or worse) trying to find a solution or repair work for a machine that its own manufacturers neglect.

The Best Home Pressure Washer

Some brands are popular for home use because of the overall quality of design and manufacture while others have improved from getting customer feedback and simply honing their skills over the years and decades of specializing in the product.

There are generally accepted brands and models that have made thousands of customers happy over the years.

And instead of making explicit recommendations for the best residential pressure washer, it is better to use the criteria above to serve as your guide in making an informed decision.

That being said however, you can use the pressure washers listed below as starting points, as they garnered many happy returns for their users and pass most of the requirements for general use, making them a good point of reference for you to examine further or purchase altogether, especially after going over them in conjunction with the aforementioned criteria, so you can buy with confidence.

• Sun Joe SPX3000 2030 PSI 1.76 GPM 14.5-Amp
• AR Blue Clean AR383 1,900 PSI 1.5 GPM 14 Amp Electric with Hose Reel
• Karcher K3 Follow Me 1800 PSI 1.3 GPM Electric with 4-Wheels and a 15-Foot Hose
• Generac 6596 2800 PSI 2.5 GPM 196cc OHV Gas Powered Specifically Intended for Residential Use
• Simpson MSH3125-S MegaShot 3100 PSI 2.5 GPM with Honda GC190 Engine

Summary

A large swath of the pressure washer market is intended for home use, and there is an overabundance of available models meant for the home. They will vary according to specific uses as well as whatever is the criteria required by the owner.

Consequently, selecting the best home pressure washer is not a matter of a one-brand-fits-all recommendation, but one based on illuminating the necessary criteria and specific use cases you require instead.

From there, you can choose the best one, such as deciding based mostly on your limited budget, or if you require more power that your wallet can allow, or simply by its portability or easy seasonal handling (such as winter storage).

And while you can go over the specific models listed, your best approach is to examine them in the context of the criteria provided and get the best product for your particular taste, limitations, requirements and budget right from the start.

Product Images Sourced From Amazon.com.

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