Hi to all. I have a re-paint job on a 3 story house that is all solid stained cedar shingles. My company does a wide variety of things so we only do 1 or 2 re paints a year. 10 years ago, we would paint 35 condos at a local resort a season. I am embarrassed to say that the pressure washing technology of ten years ago is definitely behind the times. From reading this forum it seems that this has turned into a very technical field that I know nothing about.
I have several questions that I have no answers for:
1 Is there a way I can prep the house from the ground when the peak is 45’ off the ground?the house is a monster and some of the area are jlg only access so I don’t want to pay rental while I wait for it to dry.
2 equipment
I have an old mi-t-m 2700 2.1 gal machine I bought at sherwin williams.the pump is leaking oil and is starting to work intermittently so I’m assuming it will be junk soon.
It does not seem to be up to the job. I was looking at the dewalt DXPW4240 4200 4gal minute honda gx 390 aaatm pump. I’m sure his isn’t what real guys like you would use, but it seems solid for intermittent use.it is essentially a re-branded Simpson. Suggestions welcome in the $1000 range
3 chemicals
I use a mixture of bleach, tsp and a bit of dish soap to make it sticky. I imagine this is way outdated. What should I use now?
4 tips and accessories I have stock nozzles and a turbo I got at Home Depot. What tips etc do I need for effective prep?
5 results I am going to spot prime with oil and paint the house with sw durations so my prep must work accordingly
Thank you all in advance for any advice or comments.
You prep it for painting at the same distance as you paint it from. Paint from a lift means prep from a lift.
If you charge SAMs club wholesale prices without Nordstrom’s like service, you should buy your tools at samsclub. If you are doing this for pay, add a few hundred dollars to the tool budget and buy a belt drive washer from a pro shop.
Simpson isn’t what it used to be so a Simpson rebadged isn’t either.
I would use 12.5% bleach and a soap from a pro supplier. The good sop rinses clean with no residue.
Any of the site sponsors here would have the low pressure tips you need. I use PressureTek. There are others as well.
You sound like you are going to paint it correctly. I hope I have given you some ideas on how to best tool up to prep it correctly.
Thank you for the information. If new equipment won’t help limit my rental time, I guess there is no reason for it. I have paint jobs out there I prepped the same way with the same equipment that are 10 plus years old that still look new. My first paint job is 14 years old and still doesnt need a repaint beyond windowsills. I ask because I am always trying to improve my companies efficiency and value to our customers. I am by no means cheap. My annual tool spending has been well over $25000/year not including heavy equipment,but I spend my money cautiously. I find that consumer or prosumer level tools do fine for us with intermittent use because long term dependability seem to be their biggest weakness. They do fine without daily, prolonged use. I was hoping to limit my rental time to save the customer a little money as I just bill through the rental. As far as “SAMs club prices” I’m not sure what you mean by that but we are on pace to bill out $1.8 million this year so I dont think anyone in my market would consider me “wholesale”.
My name is Andy, thank you for asking.
“Prep” May not have been the proper word to use. If I could wash it from a distance I could save the drying time and scrape and sand up close with the jlg. I don’t really understand the new low pressure washing you pros are doing but it seems to lend itself to longer distances. I imagine it wouldn’t do the same job as up close, but I could make up that differential with a more thorough hand prep from the lift. The area I am referring to will also get a total prime with oil prior to painting. Thanx in advance for any advice or comments.
Ok, we are going to set up to get close enough to clean effectively. I ordered a downstream kit and a few other items from pressuretek. I have one more question this time pertaining to chemicals. I am looking to clean the walls not necessarily strip them because we are oil priming and latex painting. Would the f-10 per carbonate cleaner be the recommended cleaner? Or would something else work better? Also, some of my sections are over lower asphalt roofs, so the chemicals would have to be safe for the shingles below. Thank you in advance.
