Should you pressure clean your house before painting?

So, should you pressure clean your house before painting? The simple answer to this question is yes, it is always to your benefit to make sure that the surface of your home is in the proper condition to bond with the fresh coat of paint.

If you want to know why with a more in-depth explanation keep on reading. 

What does Pressure Washing Do?

What does pressure washing do? As you can assume by the name, pressure washing implies a machine shooting out water (and sometimes chlorine or a special mixture) at around 273 miles per hour. This is a crazy speed, but it works. Obviously, with water flying that quickly toward the walls of your home a few things are bound to come off. This means that any dirt, grime, cobwebs, mildew, wild-growing vegetation, and decay are going to come right off.  It is absolutely necessary.

Even if you’re not exactly planning on painting, pressure washing is still a great option if you’re interested in giving your home a fresh look. As you can see from the picture below, without any additional work, just removing a lot of the general grim the siding of the home gave a completely new look. But, when it comes to painting a home’s exterior pressure cleaning is absolutely essential, I’ll explain why in a bit.

While pressure washing sounds great, it can have some pretty harmful effects on the home. As I said, the water coming out of a pressure washing machine is going pretty fast. This makes it very easy for an inexperienced painting company to chip through asphalt, wood, and concrete. This will probably leave a large dent in your home and your wallet. 

So, if you’re interested in pressure washing your home contact us. We’re painting contractors that have been in the business for more than 25+ years.

Why does a clean wall matter for paint?

Why does a clean wall matter for paint?

When even asking the initial question should I pressure clean my house before painting, people are typically unaware of the properties of paint. 

The best type of exterior paint for a home is often latex-based. This means that paint is more viscous than oil-based paints. The paint needs to have a clean base in order to properly bond with the preceding layer of paint, concrete, or general surface. Pressure washing opens the pores of all of the materials by cleaning them out, making the paint have an easier time seeping into the nooks of the surface.

This does a few things.

1. It makes the job look much better.

This image is exactly what will happen if there is an abundance of dirt and grime beneath the surface. Not allowing the paint to properly bind with the wall is one of the biggest issues that many DIY and beginner painters experience in their ventures. 

2. It increases the lifespan of the painting job.

• As we mentioned in the previous point, if the paint does not properly bind to the surface then it can cause bubbling, chipping, and general damage to the paint. This results in the sun taking its toll on the paint much faster than it would with a well-done coat of paint. 

3. It makes the next painting job even easier.

• Most of the time when the previous painter did a terrible job, it results in a lot more work for the next guy. I’ve experienced it myself. I  showed up at a job that had a terrible case of chipping paint. I mean the paint was about flying off the walls by itself. We pressure cleaned the home, removing almost all of the paint, and only then were we able to apply the new fresh coat of paint. 
• If the previous painter had done their job correctly, it wouldn’t have cost our crew a few extra hours of effort stripping all of the paint off of the wall.

So Finally, Should You Pressure Clean Your House Before Painting?

The answer is heartfelt, yes, it will always be better to pressure clean your home before you paint. Even if the home isn’t exactly what you would call “dirty”, I can almost guarantee that a light pressure wash would significantly increase the longevity of the work and increase the overall quality. 

Otherwise, in a few short years the painting for your home will be chipping and peeling, none of us want this. So, the best solution would be to hire a proper painting contractor (link here) whose sole purpose is to make sure that your home looks as beautiful as possible when he’s done with it. If you’re curious about how to find the right painting contractor we have a blog post that was written just for that purpose: “How to Hire A Painting Contractor”. This blog post will teach you the ins and outs of finding the right painting contractor for your needs and give you chronological steps on how to do it too!

Do you have to pressure wash concrete before painting?

Do you have to pressure wash concrete before painting?

Regardless of what you’re painting it is always a safe practice to pressure clean before painting. Again, regardless of the material of what you’re going to paint, whether it be inside or out, making sure the surface is as clean as possible and void of any unnecessary contaminants is essential.

What happens if you don’t pressure wash before painting?

What happens if you don’t pressure wash before painting?

If you choose not to pressure wash before painting it can have some potentially deadening consequences to the quality of the work. If the paint does not properly bond with the underlying surface of the paint it can lead to significant bubbling and chipping. This is because the paint doesn’t seep into the pores of the surface properly allowing the sun to essentially cook the paint and create areas of moisture and heat, which can lead to bubbling and tearing of paint.

Ex. This picture is an example of what can happen if you don’t pressure wash.

Now, we want to avoid this as much as possible. So, the safe practice would be to pressure wash or clean before painting any surface in or out of your home.

What We Do As A Company

Picazzo Painting Corp. has been serving in the industry for over 25 years. This means that for 25 years we have been providing customers with the highest quality services. So, if you’re looking for a painting contractor that cares about the outcome of your home, give us a call at 786-751-6572. Whether you’re looking for pressure washing or a painting contractor, we are more than willing to assist you in any way.