The outside of your home can get quite dirty and grubby from seasons of bad weather and blowing dust along with bird and insect stains. When your home's exterior surfaces get dirty, it is best to clean them regularly to keep up their quality and appearance and protect them from permanent damage. However, it is important that you complete the cleaning in a proper way. Whether you hire professional services or do the cleaning yourself, here are some recommendations to help you get the exterior clean with a pressure washer.

Prepare the Exterior

The outside of your home will need to be cleaned with a pressure washer system, which makes it easy to direct the spray of water in specific areas during the cleaning. However, you can and should prepare the outside of your home to make it easily accessible for your pressure washer professional. Remove any exterior furniture, potting plants, hose reels, or outdoor equipment. Move all this out of the way from around your home and from off the patio and deck areas and store it away to clear the area for foot traffic, especially if you plan to clean your pavement and deck as well. 

Remove and disconnect any electrical cords or plugins and close off the exposed outlets. This will protect your home's wiring and the cleaning crew from any electrical shock, which can occur if the higher pressure spray of water accidentally gets into your outdoor outlets.

Be sure to shut and latch all your home's exterior doors and windows well so they are sealed up against any water coming into your home. And if any of your home's exterior screens are loose or broken, pull them out of the windows to protect the outside of your home from possible damage.

Use the Right Equipment

When you begin the cleaning of your home's exterior and pavement or deck, be sure you use a cleaning solution. A pressure washing service is going to use a cleaning detergent to help clean the surface of any stains and grime and get a better cleaning. Detergent will help you get a cleaner result and prevent you from using too much force on your home's exterior and risk damaging your home.

The pressure washer tip you use is important because with varying nozzle spray patterns, you can get a deeper clean from concrete and stone, but will damage wood and siding. Switch out the nozzle head to a lighter spray when you clean softer surfaces, such as wood, vinyl, and aluminum. Otherwise, you will end up with gouge damage to your home's exterior.