Best Solution For Pressure Washing

dayspring

What would be the best solution to clean with that will not harm plants.

I'll be cleaning vinyl siding/soffit, aluminum gutters, wood deck railings and a porch (5/4 PT)

Homeowner is real picky about her plants, so I thought I'd see what you folks have used successfully in this situation. Thanks for the input!

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NAV

just use water. i have been power washing for 15 years and rarely use chemicals to clean. if you use a 3,500 psi or higher it should do the job most of the time.

when i come across things like rust i will use ProSoco chemicals (acid) but you risk discoloring the substrate.

for moss on decks there is a product called ShingleShields. it will kill plants but it works great.

good luck.

boman47k

Nowhere near that much pressure on those substrates! I have seen decks fuzzied up with a 1200 lb washer.

I cleaned my deck (pt) with a 1300 psf washer, but even with that I was careful not to get too close and not stay in one place long at all. I used Cabbot Problem Solver. Some of the pt was had weathered and was blackish. When I was through washing it, it was kind of hard to tell the new from the weathered. Can still tell the difference when both are dry, but the weathered was very weathered. I have also cleaned it with a 3500 psf washer. I used the 45 degree tip and kept it moving! My washer only has different tips to change the pressure, so I do not know how much pressure the 45 releases on a 3500 psf washer. Like others have said, let the chemicals work for you. Nowhere near 15 yrs experience though.

P.S. The wife thought she would rinse it off one day. she kind of got the hose a little tangled and when she turned to get untangled and turned back around, she had nice christian like fish cut into the deck.

BMAN

I like the outdoor bleach myself.

NAV

Yea, if you are using high pressure you have to be careful. you dont want to carve your name in the wood. at 1,300 psi you mite as well use a garden hose. you can spend all day and still not get it clean (unless you like scrubbing with brushes to clean it)


some definitions for your quotes:

SSPC- SP12 or NACE 5- High and Ultra-High Pressure Water Jetting for Steel and Other Hard Materials
This standard provides requirements for the use of high-and ultra-high pressure water jetting to achieve various degrees
of surface cleanliness. This standard is limited in scope to the use of water only, without the addition of solid particles
in the stream. For complete instructions, refer to Joint Surface Preparation Standard SSPC-SP12/NACE No.5.

HCPainting

Water. Chemicals are a last resort. 3000-3500 psi of water can do amazing things.

Dmax Consulting

KrudKutter makes a pressure washer solution that works really well. It is purple.

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dayspring

Thanks for all of your suggestions. My pressure washer is a 3 gal per minute, 2000 psi Hero unit. I wound up using Simple Green diluted about 50/50 in a garden sprayer for the siding, worked real good. I used a product made by Olympic for the deck. I turned the pressure about half way down while washing the siding.

No harm to any plants, everything came clean without a hitch.

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boman47k

Has that unit got an adjustable pressure valve, or did you just change to a wider fan pattern by changing tips? The only way I know of changing the pressure on my unit is by changing the heads. Mine is a Subaru 3000 psi, 2.7 gal ( I think)

dayspring

It has a pressure control valve

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