Service Areas
Maryland, MD
Virginia, VA
Washington, DC
Montgomery County
Frederick County
Prince Georges County
Ashton
Beallsville
Bethesda
Boyds
Brinklow
Brookeville
Burtonsville
Cabin John
Chevy Chase
Clarksburg
Colesville
Damascus
Darnestown
Derwood
Dumfries
Fairfax
Frederick
Gaithersburg
Germantown
Glen Echo
Hyattsville
Ijamsville
Kensington
Laytonsville
Montgomery Village
Mount Airy
New Market
North Bethesda
North Potomac
Olney
Poolesville
Potomac
Rockville
Sandy Spring
Silver Spring
Takoma Park
Washington Grove
West Bethesda
West Friendship
Wheaton
Woodbine
Time For Pressure Washing?
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Testimonial
"I am very satisfied with the service of Henry's housework. They quality and level of service is exceptional and I sincerely appreciate their prompt response to my request to replace roof tiles. In today's society, I find the level of work ethics and customer service has declined in a variety of professions. Henry's Housework is the exception to the rule. Please accept my appreciation Henry, and to Nichole of your staff for a quality job."
Evelyn Lee, Silver Spring MD
Power washing siding may seem safer to take on yourself, but if you don't have the proper tools and experience it could cost far more than you intended.
Some of the most common mistakes to avoid made by homeowners and contractors are:
Trying to remove the powdery coating called oxidation on aluminum siding. Removing this coating can cause discoloration and in some cases cause the siding to look like a completely different color.
Using too much pressure can also force water up behind the siding where it will cause mildew behind the siding or in some cases, blow the siding off the house!
Washing the house from the top down or letting chemicals dry on the house, which may leave streaks on the siding.
Using a ladder to clean the upper areas of a house can result in serious injuries and death from slipping off the ladder.
These are the types of mishaps that many people have when attempting to do a quick power washing of their home. If you decide to use a power washer on your home, here are some general guidelines to use.
Make sure the machine your using puts out a minimum of 4 gallons of water per minute and less than 1000 PSI.
Most homeowners will buy a machine from a hardware store that puts out 1,000 PSI but only uses 2 gallons per minute of water. While this machine may work, it will triple the amount of time to do the job properly.
Be careful if your making your own house washing chemicals. For example, mixing bleach and ammonia can create a poisonous gas.
We suggest that home owners buy a siding wash that's available in most hardware stores and follow the manufactures guidelines for the product. Leave the stronger agents to the pro's or you may end up removing the paint along with the dirt!
The best way to clean siding is by using a power washer that has a chemical injector built into the machine. Using a chemical injector will allow you to pull the soap from the container, mixing it in the machine with water and spray it onto the house using low pressure starting from the bottom up. Make sure when using a power washer that you don't shoot water or chemicals up under the siding, this can cause significant mold problems behind your siding.
Allow the chemical to dwell on the siding, then using low pressure, rinse the product from the siding. Make sure when your rinsing the product off the siding that you start at one end of the siding all the way to the end. Do not stop or vary your distance from the siding, or it will cause the surface to be cleaned un-evenly.
If your siding has small black dots that do not come off during cleaning but can be scraped off using your finger nail. You probably have artillery fungus on your siding. This can not be removed from the siding without causing damage. For more information on Artillery fungus, see the Artillery fungus page.
If you decide this project is more than you want to handle on your own, we would be happy to tell you how to do the job safely and correctly or to find a reputable and experienced company for power washing siding, just give us a call.
Henry Bockman
President, Henry's Housework Inc.
MHIC # 65039 Licensed, bonded and insured.
www.Henryshousework.com
301 216-9675
