Pressure Washer: How to Clean Wood Decks With a Pressure Washer
Have you ever imagined spending your time with your family and friends in your patio’s freshly cleaned wooden deck? If you have, then it may be the perfect time for you to start cleaning your deck. But, the idea of swabbing your wood deck with a mop and bucket is hardly appealing. Besides, who would want to spend a lot of time doing this type of hard work?
This is why you have to get yourself a pressure washer. This will make the job of cleaning easier for you and it will also save you a lot of time and money. You see, pressure washers are very economical when it comes to using water. They also use a lot of pressure to loosen even the most resilient dirt on your deck’s surface.
The job will be so easy with a pressure washer that you might even enjoy the process of cleaning your deck.
So, here are some of the things that you have to do in order for you to start cleaning your wood deck with a pressure washer.
The first thing that you need is a water hose. Get one that is has at least 5 eight of an inch inside diameter. It should be free of holes, cuts or leaky gaskets. A pressure washer will save water but if you have a leaky water hose, it will negate your water savings. And, it will also create an additional mess, which will make cleaning a lot harder than it should be.
Of course, you will need a pressure washer. Select a model that received positive reviews from other customers. And, you may want to take a look at the PSI. This is basically the measurement of the force of water coming out the hose. This force breaks up the dirt on the surface. The GPM is also another thing that you have to take a look at. GPM is short for gallons per minute. This indicates how much water comes out the washer per minute. Get a pressure washer that has at least 3000 PSI of force and 3 GPM. This will let you clean more efficiently and quicker than any other unit that has less. Also, get a pressure washer that has an interchangeable nozzle, which will provide you with greater cleaning flexibility.
You also have to wear protective clothing. Don’t wear your swimsuit or a board short and flip flops when using pressure washer. Instead, wear long pants and shirt. This will help prevent debris bouncing off the house to injure you. If you can, safety goggles must also be worn.
You should also protect your hearing by using earmuffs and wear sturdy shoes.
To clean your wood deck, you first need to set up everything. This means that you need to hook up your water hose to the water faucet outside the house and hook up the other end of the hose on to your pressure washer. Then, you have to hook up the high pressure hose assembly and turn the water on.
Before you start spraying away, you have to remove everything that might get damaged by the water pressure. This means you have to remove all your patio furniture, barbecue grill, and other decorative items.
You also need to pre-treat heavily soiled areas with a cleaning solution. You can use the soap attachment to do this. It will help clean built up grease and grime under the barbecue grill and also remove stains that were left behind. Just remember that you should never allow the soap to dry before you wash it off with the high pressure washer.
After treating the deck with the cleaning solution, the next step is to wash the deck with water or rinse it. Maintain a 12 inch distance between the deck and the nozzle to avoid damaging the deck with the high pressure.
Lastly, let it dry for 48 hours or more.
As you can see, it’s really easy to clean a wood deck with a high pressure washer. With this device, you can be sure that you will get your deck cleaned in time for the party and also do so easily.