Your home is your castle, and you take great pride in how it looks. Keeping siding clean is a key part of making your home look nice.
If you've got fiber cement siding, there are a few things you'll have to do to keep it looking great.
Don't just brush the cobwebs with a broom and spray it with a garden hose. This will only get rid of the loosest dirt.
With a pressure washer, you can clean embedded dirt and stains from your cement siding, making your home look bright and new again.
A 3000 PSI consumer-grade gas pressure washer is a great choice for cleaning fiber cement siding.
Consider the size of the detergent tank. The larger your house is, the more pressure washing you'll have to do and the more frequently you'll have to refill the detergent tank.
Having a larger tank will ensure you don't have to refill as often, which means you'll finish sooner too.
If you're spraying mold and mildew off of your siding, you should use more than just water. Detergents are made for anything from concrete to vinyl siding.
If you tend to clean your house, walkways, and truck all in the same day, your best bet is to get a soap kit to cover everything.
Use the black spray tip for applying the soap and water mixture, and be sure to spray evenly in overlapping strokes so you don't miss spots or leave any streaks.
Once you've thoroughly covered every square inch of your siding with detergent, let it soak.
If your siding hasn't been cleaned in a long time, you should use a rotating brush to loosen the buildup better.
After the soap has soaked for a few minutes, you can blast away the grime to reveal the freshly cleaned siding! A white or green tip will deliver an appropriate amount of water pressure. Yellow and white tips deliver a highly concentrated and very powerful stream capable of stripping paint from the siding.
When you first start, keep the wand a couple of feet away from the siding. If you find you need more power, move very gradually closer until you are able to get a sufficient clean.
Move in even, overlapping strokes so you don't miss any spots or leave any streaks. Start from the top this time, and work your way down as you spray smoothly in a left-to-right motion.
Keep your wand angled down as much as possible to avoid getting water under the laps of the siding, otherwise, the siding could buckle under pressure.
Be careful and watch where you're spraying. Don't directly spray light fixtures, windows, vents, or eaves. The high pressure of the water could cause serious damage when aimed poorly.
Likewise, be careful not to aim the pressurized water near your feet, hands, or any other person or pet. The water pressure can cause serious injury.
Once you're done, move onto the next pressure washing adventure. Clean your decking, strip off old paint, or even clean your sidewalks.