If your deck is looking dirty and weathered, pressure washing is an excellent way to breathe new life into its surface without exhausting yourself with a multi-hour campaign of tough scrubbing and bucket-hauling. Window Genie is a premier pressure washing service provider that offers you the perfect solution, but sometimes hiring on help may not be what you are looking for. People with dangerous unfinished or deteriorating decks may not wish to risk injuring a professional worker, and there are always a number of do-it-yourselfers out there. For those who are interested in pressure-washing their decks themselves, read on for a quick introduction on how to handle your new rental!
1. Scrub the deck.
First, you need to acquire a stiff-bristled brush. Opt for synthetic rather than natural bristles, as this will allow you to get a much longer life span out of it in the face of harsh cleaning solutions. This will be instrumental during the first stage in cleaning, which is to thoroughly scrub down your deck with a cleaning compound. Once you have scrubbed your deck, you may need to allow the cleaning compound a few moments to rest and fully settle into the wood fiber. If not, or once the time has elapsed, you can proceed to the next step and start rinsing.
2. Pressure washer rinse.
Though a conventional hose will work for this task, the amount of water wastage, and the comparatively low cleaning force offered with this option makes a pressure washer a much more cost, time, and clean-efficient choice.
As a general rule, you should always trigger the pressure washer pointing away from the deck surface, and from any other sensitive surfaces or subjects, whether it's windows or the wife!
The water will emerge in a "fan" pattern from the spout. A 40-to-60-degree tip is typical of deck-cleaning pressure washers. The degree of the angle tells you the size of the "fan" shape.
First, begin "sweeping" the deck. The objective here is to remove dirt without leaving any signs of pressurized water. Try to be smooth and steady with your sweeping motions. You will also need to find the right balance of water pressure so that you are neither leaving residual dirt, nor stripping the wood fibers too harshly.
Corners can sometimes be difficult to navigate for new users of the pressure washer. Because the water has nowhere else to go, it will often jet back towards the user aiming towards a corner, and the cleaners and contaminants therein can be harmful. For this reason, it is always advisable to work yourself out of corners rather than sweeping in towards them.
3. Let it dry, review, and re-rinse (if necessary!).
Dry decks look quite dissimilar to wet ones. Once it's dry, review the deck for any residual dirt, lap marks, raised wood, or imperfections. Try to give your deck about 24 hours before conducting this review so that a thorough dry can occur. If your inspection yields some negative news, and you are staring at a roughed-up deck surface, don't panic - Window Genie can help!
The art of pressure washing
The technical and feel-oriented skill set required for a high-quality pressure wash can take years of experience to acquire. People dismissing pressure washing as a simple hose-off will be sorely surprised, and likely left with a water-gouged deck! For decades now, Window Genie has recognized the difficult nature of the art of pressure washing, and has sought to offer customers easy solutions. If you are truly interested in a pressure washing, but would like to save yourself the trouble of renting, transporting, setting up, and stumbling through the operation of your pressure washer, contact Window Genie for a fast and efficient wash!
WindowGenie is America's fastest growing home service franchise company, offers window cleaning, window tinting, pressure washing, gutter cleaning and additional services. WindowGenie was established in 1994 & has over 70 locations in 23 states. Please visit http://www.windowgenie.com/ for more information.
