Today I rented a pressure washer to clean the siding on our house. I have tried before with my little electric toy with no encouraging results. The electric models may work to wash your car or lawn mower because they boast up to 2000 psi but where they fall short is flow. The volume of water, usually expressed in gpm (gallons per minute) needs to be high to do an effective job of removing dirt and chalk from aluminum siding. The rental unit boasted 1800 psi with nearly 3 gpm which makes a huge difference compared to my 1100 psi 1 gpm toy washer.
See the area where I have not sprayed?
Above, I left a spot to show the difference. You can see the area of chalky oxidation. With no soap, just water under pressure and lots of it.
My son Tim can reach higher than me without a ladder. Click a picture to enlarge.
Since we haven't seriously cleaned the siding in over twenty years, it was showing signs of deterioration but the rented pressure washer blasted through the layers and now the house looks great. We had gotten a quote of $2000 to wash and paint the house but now it's apparent that it doesn't need painting so we saved a lot of cash. The rental was well worth the $70 cost. These heavy duty models can cost up to around $700 or more so renting is the way to go for most home owners who want to get the job done right.
.
.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment