Pressure washing is a simple way to spruce up

Tag : Power Strip
Pressure washing is a simple way to spruce up By James and Morris Carey - For The Associated Press
Early summer is an excellent time to take on outdoor maintenancetasks that have been on the back burner awaiting warmer weather.
Right about this time of year, we pull out our trusty pressurewasher and go blasting around the house on a cleaning spree. Beyonda good sprucing up, a power washing will reveal cracks, gaps andwear-and-tear to tackle next.
Here's a guide to a thorough summer cleaning:
Pressure wash:
A pressure or power washer uses water under high pressure to stripaway grime on all sorts of surfaces. Sometimes you can combinebleach or other cleaning agents, but we find that water is all weneed for most tasks.
Be careful. Power washing a roof can be daunting and dangerous.Unless you work well with heights, we suggest that you hire someoneto do the work for you. If you choose to take it on yourself, wearrubber-soled boots and use a safety harness securely anchored tothe opposite side of the roof and your waist.
Clean gutters. After the spray-down, your gutters will probably befilled with all sorts of muck from the roof. Since a power washermay be too powerful for this tight area, we suggest that you use agarden trowel along with a garden hose to thoroughly clean thegutters and downspouts. Use the garden hose as a snake to flushdownspouts and drain pipes.
Clean other house features. Move on to cleaning eaves, soffits,siding, windows and trim to remove grit, grime, spider webs andwasps nests. Work from the bottom up to prevent potential streakingand staining.
A pressure washing with water is all that will be needed for mostsiding.
Use elbow grease. Vinyl siding may require a bit of detergent andwater and some scrubbing with a nylon truck brush to removeoxidation or staining. Then rinse thoroughly.
We like to leave the window screens in place for ease of cleaningand then, once clean, remove them to clean windows and frames.
Move on to power wash porches, patios, paths, decks, barbecues,outdoor furniture and other finishes that could benefit from a goodcleaning.