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House Washing Process

House Wash Setup Process

  1. Connect the female end of garden hose to customer spigot, turn on.
  2. Connect the male end of garden hose to the water tank
    1. Close the waste valve of the water tank.
    2. The water tank must be full before turning on the pressure washer
  3. Assess the scope of the work by walking around the entire home and identify all the dirty areas of the roof that need to be washed
  4. Ensure that all windows on the home are closed
  5. Remove all customer items from the work area, including vehicles, furniture, hanging plants, flags, banners, umbrellas, and the like.
  6. Look for any electrical outlets
    1. Unplug any electrical cords from the outlets
    2. Use duct tape to cover the plugs of all electrical outlets
  7. Begin by setting up and working on the dirtiest side of the home first (usually the north side of the home)
  8. Setting up the pressure washer tools
    1. Gather Required Tools
      • Pressure washing gun
      • J-Rod (4 nozzle tips welded together)
      • Ball Valve
      • Soap Injector
      • 5 Gallon bucket
      • 2 Gallons of Chlorine
    2. Attach J-Rod and Ball Valve to the pressure washing gun
    3. Attach other end of ball valve to the pressure washing hose
    4. With the soap injector in hand, unreel pressure washing hose (generally only two 100′ sections are needed)
    5. Walk pressure washing hose to the dirtiest side of the home first
    6. Separate the pressure washing hose at 100′ and attach the soap injector in between the two 100′ sections of the pressure washing hose.
    7. Disconnect the pressure washing hose from the hose reel and attach to the outlet hose of the pressure washer
    8. Make the house wash mix.
      1. For light to moderate algae build-up:
        • Pour 2 gallons of 12.5% Sodium Hypochlorite (Chlorine) into a clean/rinsed 5-gallon bucket.
        • Using the garden hose, fill the 5-gallon bucket with 3 gallons of water
        • Cover bucket with a lid when moving the bucket from one place to another.
      2. For heavy algae build-up and lichen on siding:
        • Pour 3 gallons of 12.5% Sodium Hypochlorite (Chlorine) into a clean/rinsed 5-gallon bucket.
        • Using the garden hose, fill the 5-gallon bucket with 2 gallons of water
        • Cover bucket with a lid when moving the bucket from one place to another.
    9. With the bucket covered by a lid, place the house wash at the soap injector. Ideally, place the bucket on a cement surface while washing. Alternatively, place bucket on grass or dirt. DO NOT place bucket at the base of trees or plants
      • WARNING: Be aware that the pressure washer hose can move itself backwards towards the truck while you are pressure washing. If the soap injector hose is in the bucket while the hose moves backwards, it CAN and WILL tip your bucket over spilling the chlorine solution on the customer’s property. This will kill any nearby vegetation.
    10. Once all tools are attached and in place, ensure that the water tank is full, and turn on the pressure washer.

House Washing Notes

  • WARNING: DO NOT SPRAY THE FOLLOWING ITEMS DIRECTLY
    • Do not directly spray the front door (often has paint that can be stained by the house wash solution, often has fancy doorknobs and locks that lose their finish from the house wash solution
    • Do not directly spray light fixtures
    • Do not directly spray outlets
    • Do not directly spray neighbors home (avoid over-spraying onto neighbor’s property)
  • NOTES:
    • Siding washing will remove
      • All Water-Soluble Debris listed below
      • Green or black growth: Algae, lichen, and mildew
      • Dirt and dust
      • Bug spots, spider webs, and bird droppings
    • Siding washing will NOT remove
      • Shotgun Fungus (black dots on the shaded side of the home near mulch)
      • Oil or silicone run-off under the edge of windows
      • Vines and residue left from vine removal
      • Irrigation stains (red iron stains from sprinklers)
      • Oxidation removal (oxidation is the powdery residue on vinyl or aluminum siding caused by the UV rays of the sun)
        • Oxidation removal is included in Premium House Washing, but not Basic or Deluxe House Washing Packages
    • You will focus on two sides of the home at a time.
      • Begin with sides 1 and 2 (i.e. back and left side of home)
        Then move to sides 3 and 4 (i.e. front and right side of home) after sides 1 and 2 are perfectly treated and rinsed.
    • All exterior surfaces of the siding will be cleaned. This includes:
      • Gutter Fascia (gutter surface that is seen from the ground)
      • Soffit (space between the gutter and the siding)
      • Siding
      • Windows
      • Porch columns
      • Porch Ceilings
    • Dirt tends to stick to the siding just under the soffit. Pressure washing alone will not remove all dirt at the top of the home’s siding
      • If it looks like dirt is present, wet the siding with the pressure washer and either wipe area with your hand or with a brush.
      • If dirt can be removed by brushing, you must brush the entire side of the home. It is obvious when only one part of a section has been brushed and the rest hasn’t.

House Washing Process

  1. Wet all plants within 10 feet of the home with the lowest pressure tip before applying any house wash solution
  2. Remove the lid from the house wash bucket and place the soap injector hose into the house wash bucket
  3. Using the pressure washing gun, begin applying the house wash solution to side 1 of the home.
  4. When first treating for the house wash, the goal is to “just get the surface wet” with the solution and let the chemical do the work. DO NOT try to get the siding perfectly clean when applying the house wash solution.
  5. Wet the side of the home from the top down
    1. Spray the gutter fascia (what you can see of the gutters from the ground) and be sure to get all of the surfaces of the gutter wet including the gutter endcaps
    2. Spray the soffits of the home with the house wash solution
    3. Spray the siding with house wash solution and besure to get all crevices, angles, and around the trim.
    4. Spray the windows and trim
  6. Once one side of the home is completely treated, move to the next side of the home (work your way back along the pressure washing hose to the truck)
  7. Allow solution to dwell on side 1 of the home for 10-15 minutes.
  8. Repeats steps 1 through 7 on side 2 of the home
  9. After the two sides are wet and treated go back to side 1 and look for any areas that need to be touched up and still look dirty or the algae is still green (gutter fascia, underside of gutters, green on siding). Retreat those areas.
  10. Look for areas to touch up with the house wash solution on side 2
  11. Once all algae is treated on sides 1 & 2, remove soap injector hose from soap bucket, and begin rinsing side 1
  12. Completely rinse each section in the following order
    • Windows
    • Gutters
    • Windows
    • Soffits
    • Windows
    • Siding
    • Windows
  13. Before moving to side 2, make sure no debris is remaining on the siding
  14. Rinse all plants within 10 feet of the home with the lowest pressure tip after applying any house wash solution
  15. Repeat steps 12 through 14 on side 2
  16. Once side 1 & 2 are perfectly clean, use the following steps to properly move the pressure washing hose and bucket
  17. Place the lid on the 5-gallon bucket
  18. Move the 5-gallon bucket to the new location in between sides 3 and 4
  19. Grab the pressure washing gun and the soap injector and walk the 200′ of hose to the other side of the home
  20. Lay the gun down at side 4
  21. Move the 5-gallon bucket to the soap injector location
  22. Repeat steps 2 through 15 for sides 3 & 4
  23. Once completed make sure all siding is perfectly clean
  24. If you need to touch up algae or dirt is remaining on the siding, dip the house wash brush (attached to a pole) into the bucket of solution and scrub the siding clean.
  25. Once house wash is completed, pack up all tools and properly dispose of house wash mix (if there are no other house wash jobs for the day)