I need to pressure wash my house. The exterior is vinyl siding and white brick. The cost to rent a unit is $100 a day. I have seen some 1200 psi on QVC for just a little more than that. Or should I consider buying something more powerful? Thanks.
I don't think I would want more power than that on vinyl siding, but I have never used mine on siding.
I bought one of them $100 units from Home Depot a couple weeks ago to pressure wash the plaster in out swimming pool and it worked great, 110 v operation and 4 gpm @ 1200 psi IIRC....
Sure beat the heck out of renting and then messing around with a big heavy gasoline powered unit--especially since the job really needed nowhere near that kind of capacity.
I bought a 1400 PSI electric from Home Depot for 99.00, it more than does the jobs I need to do. You can check them out here:
Graduation party this weekend. Wife said to get the house washed.
I have a 3.5 HP Honda and I used ZEP House wash from Home Depot. It did a GREAT job.
However, parts of my house is over 25 feet tall and this machine won't reach these areas and I don't want to get on ladders. I'm borrowing my friends 11 HP Honda tomorrow and this will most likely do the job.
If you have a ranch or single story unit a unit like the ones other talked about will do you fine. Make sure you test the mixture of cleaner or you will stain the siding.
MAKE SURE YOU START ALL CLEANING ON THE BOTTOM AND WORK UP. Once you get streaking you won't get rid of it. Don't let the cleaner dry and if its too strong you can etch your windows.
Rich
Karcher electric has been around for 20 yr+ I blew out 2 Generac Cheapos in 4 hrs . Karcher is good, Cheap is cheap, use a wide nozzle.
Yea BS , If you need to clean the house , you gota still, get on a ladder ,,,, more power aint gonna do it.
Basically, the smaller and lower powered, the slower the job and the smaller area that can be done at a time. A bucket and scrub brush are less than ten bucks, but you'll take a bit longer.
Jeff
More power, and you will blow the siding off. I would buy one of the generic $100 units. It will help do the job, but you will just about have to scrub every foot anyway or you will have streaks.
BUT you will be able to use the power washer on other things, like oil stains on the driveway. Removing unwanted paint. All sorts of little jobs you used to work at can be done easily and quickly by a power washer. You don't need one that will cut steel, just a decent one that will last more than two years.
Steve
Hmm....
Sounds kinda dangerous.....
Your assumption and my experience conflict.
With a good cleaner I have had good results with the higher pressure unit to reach the 25 ft section. My results were good.. But as I said, I would not use the higher HP unit for a ranch.
Just did my siding with a 3.5 HP and a 11 HP unit. The siding is in great shape and didn't blow off.
Of course, I had a competent siding installer, maybe that was the difference.
It seems that many here don't know that a 11 HP unit can be turned down in speed and use varrious tips to produce great results. If the guy needs or wants an 11 HP unit, go for it. You can adjust it.
Rich
I would buy one of the
Wrong on both counts.
I use a 5.5 HP unit on my vinyl siding for three years. Also tried my neighbors $100 electric before buying a gas powered unit from Northern Tools.
I never use any cleaner, just water. I can set the fan very wide and clean fast, narrower for tough spots.
Vinyl will stay on just fine if one thinks just a little. Go with the direction or overlap (don't shoot under the siding joints) and don't shoot straight up. Basically, you can rip it off easily if you shoot the stream under it - just pick your directions.
The lower power unit I borrowed also won't take the moss off my driveway unless I go extremely slow. Again, the higher power allows a wider fan setting and lets me get the job done.
One must be careful, set it to a stream instead of fan and it will bore holes in a wood deck!
gerry
Sorry I was unclear. My intent was to say that you don't need some mondo sized sprayer. You can do it with just about any sprayer, but you have to watch how close you come with the spray head, the spray pattern, and the direction you shoot the water stream. Anyone who has used a power sprayer learns this in the first thirty seconds. On most of my jobs, the sprayer is actually a rinser, having had to do most of the scrubbing the old fashioned way. Depending on the type of material cleaned, some still require that you scrub every inch of it or it ends up streaked.
HTH
Steve
I think the smaller units work well. My experience is that they break from not using it for a long time. (which would be in your case) so follow the procedures in the manual about storage prep (drain it)
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I think you're right to buy it outright. I bought a pressure washer on Ebay, and it didn't have some parts. Bought another one, and it didn't have some other parts. Bought some parts. I finally figured it out, I had about $200 tied up, and I coulda got one post paid for $89.97 from
(but it was a great learning experience. And I've used the washer several times, and it's paid for itself.)
Buy a unit small electrics are slow but work good. Karcher is good. But a Generac cheapie, well I blew 2 out in 4 hrs. By local incase it breaks. Use a big unit, be sure you have and use a wide nozzle.
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