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Tag: pressure washing outdoor furniture

Best Way to Clean Your Outdoor Furniture

It’s only natural for outdoor furniture to accumulate dirt, stains, and bugs over time. With summer still in full swing it’s not too late to wash it all away so that your outside space feels more relaxing and inviting. Follow along below as we reveal the best way to clean your outdoor furniture.

Preparation

Before we can jump into cleaning, we have to prepare a workspace and gather some essential tools. You will need plenty of outdoor space to work with and should cover anything nearby that can’t get wet. The tools you will need  are:

  1. Pressure Washer
  2. Bucket Filled With Warm Water
  3. Heavy Duty Fabric Cleaner (depending on the cushion’s material)

Strip the furniture of its cushions and strip the cushions of their covers. Allow the covers to soak in the bucket of warm water while you proceed to the next step.

Pressure Wash

If you have the tools and experience needed to work with a pressure washer then continue reading, if not pause here and hire a professional.

If you decide to do this step yourself, first start by bringing the furniture into the workspace and tipping it over so that its legs are pointed to the sky, if possible. Turn the pressure washer on and from a few feet away begin spraying the furniture down from the top (legs) down. Flip it right side up and again spray it down from the top down. Repeat as needed and allow everything to air dry afterward.

Cushions

Remove the cushion covers from the bucket and gently wring out the water. If they are heavily soiled you may want to repeat the soaking process once or twice more and use the heavy duty fabric cleaner to help with stubborn spots and stains. Let the cushion covers to air dry afterward as well, but always be sure to double check the label for specific instructions.

Conclusion

Keeping your favorite outdoor hangout space clean doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming when working with the right tools. The team at Oceantime Pressure Washing LLC will help you clean the outside of your home for a great rate, call us today!

10 Things You Should Never Pressure Wash

Pressure washing is an extremely useful way to maintain your home. However, it is a tool that must be used correctly, or you’ll actually end up causing damage which will cost you money. Here are a few items that should never be pressure washed.

  • Under Your Car’s Hood

The pressure from the water could easily disconnect wires under your hood or force water into places it shouldn’t be. The force of the water may actually clean areas that you don’t want to clean; removing lubricants that are needed for the car to function properly.

  • Car Exteriors

A pressure washer is strong enough to chip paint and dull your car’s finish. Some may even be strong enough to put tiny dents in your car. In this case, using a pressure washer can be overkill for your car’s exterior. A water hose or car wash is the best choice.

  • Asphalt Roofs

Asphalt roofs cannot withstand the strong jet of a pressure washer. The granules are easily knocked off, leaving your roof compromised and susceptible to damage.

  • Electrical Meters and Panels

It’s best to be on the safe side and not blast electrical panels or other components with water, even if they are on the outside of your home. The force of rain is much less than that of a pressure washer.

  • Stained Wood

If you are preparing to re-stain wood, then a pressure washer is great. However, if you want the item to remain stained, you should avoid using a power washer or let a professional pressure washer handle the job.

  • Aluminum Siding

Aluminum is a very lightweight metal and dents extremely easily. Pressure washing aluminum siding can lead to unsightly dents in your home’s exterior. Some professionals may be able to handle an aluminum siding project, but it can be a tricky task for a DIYer to undertake.

  • Lead Paint

If your home was built before 1978, there’s a possibility its paint may contain lead which is an environmental hazard. You don’t want lead filled dust flying into the air, and you definitely don’t want it to leech into your soil where it can contaminant water sources. You’ll need to get your exterior paint tested by a professional to find out if it contains lead or not.

  • Crumbling Brick or Mortar

In most cases, brick and mortar can be pressure washed just fine. However, if it is in bad condition with sections easily crumbling and falling off, pressure washing will just weaken its structure further.

  • Shingle Siding

Shingle siding is much too delicate for pressure washing. The flow of water can rip shingles right from the surface.

  • Any Living Thing

Pressure washers can provide 30-80 times the intensity of pressure you would get from your standard garden hose.

There are many things to consider when deciding whether to pressure wash a surface such as what intensity of pressure to use and even which type of spray nozzle attachment is best. Let the professionals at Oceantime Pressure Washing LLC take care of your heavy duty cleaning jobs without causing damage. Visit us online to find out more.

Surfaces Inappropriate for Pressure Washing

With great power comes great responsibility, and it’s true for pressure washing too. Inappropriately wielding the power of pressure washers can damage many surfaces. To make maximum use of pressure washing, it’s important to know which settings are appropriate for these powerful blasts of water. Here are some basics to keep in mind.

Old or rotting wood

This one is straightforward, as it’s easy to see that brittle pieces of wood can crumble under even a little bit of pressure. Decks made of soft wood should be washed gently, as opposed to the decks made of strong wood, which can take high-speed pressure washing. Old walls and wooden fences cannot often handle the strength of a jet of pressure washers and should be treated delicately. With the right surface, pressure washing leaves a pristinely clean look, but with weak surfaces, the water can easily gouge and leave unsightly narrow streaks.

Cloth or woven surfaces

Although many types of outdoor furniture can take on powerful blasts of water, and be restored to their sparkling selves, not all are as strong. Cabana curtains, as sturdy as they look, are a good example. When those stains or marks on certain upholstered surfaces are bothersome, it’s key to remember how strong they are. Certain tarps and outdoor materials are not sturdy enough to withstand the jet of water and can become torn or frayed as a result. Rolling up those fabrics and cleaning them gently is the remedy for such soft textures.

Thin glass

Pressure washing does a superb job in cleaning many windows and panels, but that doesn’t mean all glass is made equal. When pressure washing those wicker wood and metal surfaces on the patio, it can be easy to come across a glass decoration or two, but many glass coffee tables don’t have the structural integrity that can endure heavy jets of water. Removing such furniture from the to-be-cleaned site is crucial for expediting an effective and safe pressure washing session.

Conclusion

Without the knowledge of which materials are okay for pressure washing, the result can be disastrous. However, experts are experts! If you have any concerns about your pressure washing needs, simply give Oceanside Pressure Washing and Roof Cleaning a call. Getting those grimy areas squeaky clean can be done before you know it.

Handling Pressure-Washed Decks

So you’ve just had your decks pressure-washed. You may be asking yourself, “What now?” Well, there are some things to keep in mind when it comes to handling freshly pressure-washed decks. To find out, simply read below.

Temperature management

Pressure washing wooden materials means applying lots of water and having those surfaces soak up all that moisture. The ideal scenario would be to have the sun dry all that H2O out as quickly as possible and render those surfaces perfectly crisp. However, life sometimes gives us lemons. To make lemonade, one can anticipate such scenarios and plan ahead before the pressure washing session. Paying attention to weather forecasts can help you catch that perfect time slot of sunshine needed for drying the decks. Having a tarp to cover the decks wouldn’t hurt either—in case those meteorologists get it wrong.

Infestations and invasions

Wood is a natural substance perfectly suited for various organisms to thrive in. When termites and various beetles come across some quality bark, they would often love nothing more than to lay their eggs in it and even make it their home. Spores of fungi and pollen can also join the party, to our dismay. Thus, having a solid exterminator or pest expert inspect your decks before having a pressure washer spray water on them can be helpful. In the long run, it should also ease your mind about pesky crawlies amounting to an infestation.

Arranging scenery

The thing about wood is that water softens it; wood decks that have recently been soaking in water are vulnerable to dents by furniture and other heavy objects. Unlike carpets and memory foam, wood is less prone to revert to its original form once it has been imprinted with impressions. Although harder woods can take something like 1200 to 1500 psi from a pressure washer, wood is still wood. Especially for softer kinds like cedar or pine, the marks of one’s stomping can be indelible. To reduce these impressions, consider skipping that retread on your freshly-moistened decks. Placing picnic tables or other outdoor furniture on the decks right after the pressure washing may not be the wisest move either.

Conclusion

Of course, no deck is perfect; wear and tear is inevitable despite people’s best efforts to maintain them. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to retain our decks’ beauty as much as we can. For more information on the best ways to clean your deck, consult Oceanside Pressure Washing and Roof Cleaning today.