# How many power wash



## Epoxy Pro

How many of you power wash the house before painting.


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## MIZZOU

We do every time. Not only for paint prep but also for the up sell of clean gutters, exterior windows/doors, etc.


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## Paradigmzz

i have never even considered not washing them.


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## Schmidt & Co.

I don't always power wash, because_ most _houses here are brick. I'm usually just painting some fascia, windows and doors. Those items I'll hand wash where needed, because I'm sure as heck not going to power wash the windows or doors.

Sided houses? Of course I power wash, but I only get one or two of those a year.


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## Steve Richards

I wash 'em too.

(even when it cuts into my hackery-per-job quota)

No real mold/mildew problem here on exteriors. Mostly pollution/dirt/cobwebs, so I don't use any soap/cleaning solutions a lot of times.


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## Steve Richards

BTW
Another positive (for me)

Day1..power wash and collect 1st check
Day 2..let it dry and go fishing
Day 3.. start prepping, unless the fish are biting...then sometimes I'll give the house another day to make sure it's dry.


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## Epoxy Pro

Steve Richards said:


> BTW
> Another positive (for me)
> 
> Day1..power wash and collect 1st check
> Day 2..let it dry and go fishing
> Day 3.. start prepping, unless the fish are biting...then sometimes I'll give the house another day to make sure it's dry.



I try to give them 5 days depending on wather, and how dirty they are. We need a nw powerwasher, I wish a hot/cold was in the budget.

I have to ask the enviromental poilce for my fishing gear back. I got caught years ago with no license.


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## Steve Richards

Co is usually dry as a popcorn fart.
10% (or less) humidity is pretty typical in the Summer.

I probably COULD wash in the morning, and start prepping that afternoon..never have though.


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## Paradigmzz

I was two or three of them at a time if i can. Then knock them out in the next week or two. 

I have no problems with painting the next day. As long as the woods not raw, its gonna be dry. 

Heck, waterbased paint is waterbased. . . lol.


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## MikeCalifornia

I try to PW on Friday and start the work on Monday. Last job was PW on Monday, start prep right after. But just some minor caulking and stucco repair.


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## Steve Richards

Here's a question...
If I'm just rinsing for dirt and cobwebs...not blowing off any chips (not intentionally anyhow)...RRP for pre '78?

Wrong forum?

ooops, that's 2 questions.


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## plainpainter

Steve Richards said:


> Here's a question...
> If I'm just rinsing for dirt and cobwebs...not blowing off any chips (not intentionally anyhow)...RRP for pre '78?
> 
> Wrong forum?
> 
> ooops, that's 2 questions.


An epa guy called me yesterday on his rounds in the neighborhood and saw my van, he mostly wanted to educate me about the rrp rules. And we had a long discussion, this very thing came up. He of course said all inspectors are different, but in general if you are not using high pressure and not trying to knock off paint - then it's perfectly ok to use low pressure washing without containment.


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## Steve Richards

Thanks pp.
I know it seems like a no-brainer, but I don't remember the term "common sense" used during my class, and I'm pretty sure it's not in the handbook either.


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## ttd

Almost always first.


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## PressurePros

I love pressure washing.


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## David's Painting

PressurePros said:


> I love pressure washing.


On a hot summer day? Ya buddy.


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## mudbone

PressurePros said:


> I love pressure washing.


 Powerful!


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## Ultimate

mudbone said:


> Powerful!


He and Scott are both on some sort of strike I've determined.


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## PressurePros

Scott has been tutoring me in the art of cryptic posting.


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## vermontpainter

I'm a pretty good snowboarder.


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## jbhapp101

We wash most jobs. I find that homeowners expect it. If a house doesn't need it I will try to convince them not to. You often climb the ladders and find out you probably should have washed it. Perhaps we'll wash them all going forward.


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## mudbone

HouseOfColor said:


> He and Scott are both on some sort of strike I've determined.


 :blink:?


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## Ultimate

mudbone said:


> :blink:?


stumped!


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## Tonyg

Why would you Not wash something before you paint it?


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## Red Truck

Same here. We like to do a washing day once or twice a month :thumbsup:

I rarely skip washing. Had to a couple times for houses on well water, and a few times for customers that wanted to *wash* themselves....



cdpainting said:


> I try to give them 5 days depending on wather, and how dirty they are. We need a nw powerwasher, I wish a hot/cold was in the budget.
> 
> I have to ask the enviromental poilce for my fishing gear back. I got caught years ago with no license.


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## tapont71

I always pw all exteriors no matter what. I have found out that 9 out 10 already are prepared to have it done. If they ask not to just to cut costs, I usually explain to them the pros and cons of not. That usually gets it taken care of. But I have gotten to where I don't even think of doing an exterior without pressure washing.


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## Tonyg

That's a good point, I always charge for a full house wash and list it as a separate line item in my estimates. So not only is it proper prep but it is also an upsell


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## tapont71

Yeah, I always itemize it so they see what they are paying for and I always put in the value of it. However, I try not to use it as up sell only because I don't want them to get the idea of taking it out just to lower cost. What I started doing for that is I offer a couple of price options if they want to save some money...usually if they will go and pickup the materials I take out a certain amount to cover that cost or depending on what I notice on the exterior, if their patio is in good shape (doesn't need concrete work), I'll add in the painting of the patio floor for free as an added bonus to convert the sale.


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## CApainter

I don't think any paint can be warranteed if you don't provide a clean and dry surface.


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## richmondpainting

jbhapp101 said:


> We wash most jobs. I find that homeowners expect it. If a house doesn't need it I will try to convince them not to. You often climb the ladders and find out you probably should have washed it. Perhaps we'll wash them all going forward.


Agreed....


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## chrisn

richmondpainting said:


> Agreed....


 
but no sanding, that makes sense:whistling2:


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## plainpainter

It seemed like 10 years ago, everyone was pressure washing homes before painting. Now a days I see a trend reverse course - seems to be the norm that most guys aren't washing now a days.


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## mattvpaint

I don't think I would consider not washing seems crazy to me


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## kdpaint

But how could all these bargain painter fit PW's in their hatchbacks? Can't be done, I say.... It's just one more thing for some people to cheap out on.


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## Jmayspaint

I use the pressure to knock off loose paint on siding restore jobs, ( post 78 only). You can get way more off than just scraping/ sanding, sometimes all of it comes off. Had a guy from another company help wash one day; he thought we were nuts. Slow Close washing, like two inches from the surface, really takes it off. Yes, it tears the wood all to heck too, but them we sand a lot. Basically expose a new layer of wood. 
And really if you aren't holding the wand pretty close,(8 -10 inches at most) you are just pressure rinsing. Might as well use a hose and save the gas.


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## mattvpaint

joshmays1976 said:


> I use the pressure to knock off loose paint on siding restore jobs, ( post 78 only). You can get way more off than just scraping/ sanding, sometimes all of it comes off. Had a guy from another company help wash one day; he thought we were nuts. Slow Close washing, like two inches from the surface, really takes it off. Yes, it tears the wood all to heck too, but them we sand a lot. Basically expose a new layer of wood.
> And really if you aren't holding the wand pretty close,(8 -10 inches at most) you are just pressure rinsing. Might as well use a hose and save the gas.


I don't know that I agree with you you can do a good job pressure washing and not hold it 2 inches away and wreck wood.


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## mattvpaint

I have done quite a few log homes and I went behind guys that didn't know how to wash and damaged wood and customers don't like when they have to hire a contractor to come in and replace logs because of a bad painter


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## Jmayspaint

mattvpaint said:


> I don't know that I agree with you you can do a good job pressure washing and not hold it 2 inches away and wreck wood.


I didn't really mean that . But it seems to diffuse the pressure much past (8-10 inches). Washing a deck I go 5 -6


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## Jmayspaint

mattvpaint said:


> I have done quite a few log homes and I went behind guys that didn't know how to wash and damaged wood and customers don't like when they have to hire a contractor to come in and replace logs because of a bad painter


 Of course "hard washing" is only appropriate in a complete
Restoration job. It just makes it more efficient to remove layers of wood


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## mattvpaint

Yea I understand where your coming from I was just saying you can do damage ive seen it done not pretty


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## smithoman

*pressure washing*

I always pressure wash an exterior. I have a graco 3030 and it rocks. If I have loose or chalky substrate I use a rototip. Essential.


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## plainpainter

mattvpaint said:


> Yea I understand where your coming from I was just saying you can do damage ive seen it done not pretty


The only time you can do real damage is if you have the pressure set way too high like 3,500 psi - nothing more than 1500 psi is really needed to help remove paint and/or you have a helper hold the tip like right next to the surface - all the other times any 'damage' accrued is easily negated by the sanding you were going to do anyways.

My only gripe from doing this is, I don't believe pressure washers really save time, after all these years of comparing different homes {remember you can never go back in time and redo the same house a different way to see what happens} I have come to the conclusion that a pressure washer set to high pressure only creates more work in terms of scraping and sanding later. Don't get me wrong - I think the homeowner gets a better quality job for it, but you as the contractor ends up doing more work. 

I've watched my competition, a very highly respected contractor in my town who seems to get the lion's share of the work, and I've seen them go around the house with spray bottles with bleach and spray an area here and another area there. And that's when I learned that Americans are in general shallow and are taken in by whatever marketing/sales front their respective contractor shows them. 

Case in point, I did this farmers porch job for some folks that are semi-neighbors back in '06. Took off all ten+ layers of paint from their floorboards and replaced about a 1/4th of the fir boards as well, not to mention fixed the sub-scructure. I even used this system to paint their tongue and groove farmers' porch ceiling, which was peeling horribly - used XIM peelbond as part of the process and California Paints for everything. The freaking job still looks perfect today. At the same time a new paint contractor was getting his feet in the neighborhood and did the house diagonal from the job I was doing - we talked and he bragged about using the best ingredients and his 7 year warrantee. I was like whatever. He's been back to that same house 4+ times now fixing his work, the last time was last year and he repainted at least half the freaking house!!!! And I bet he didn't do it for free like he promised.

To add insult to injury he's now been painting for the people I painted for 7 years ago.

You see I am the guy with the real authentic prep, the jobs that in real life actually last 7+ years - and the other guy is just hype - but he puts a better front and gets all the work. It ain't about quality guys, it's all about who can blow better smoke up a homeowner's a$$.


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## mattvpaint

Plainpainter you make some great points. Its to bad this is the way it goes some times. Its sucks that he took over a place you worked at to but if your the better guy it will show hopefully sooner than later but it will all catch up with him


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## ewingpainting.net

so how much do pay per gallons of water? I'm at 9.57 a gal


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## PressurePros

plainpainter said:


> The only time you can do real damage is if you have the pressure set way too high like 3,500 psi - nothing more than 1500 psi is really needed to help remove paint and/or you have a helper hold the tip like right next to the surface - all the other times any 'damage' accrued is easily negated by the sanding you were going to do anyways.
> 
> My only gripe from doing this is, I don't believe pressure washers really save time, after all these years of comparing different homes {remember you can never go back in time and redo the same house a different way to see what happens} I have come to the conclusion that a pressure washer set to high pressure only creates more work in terms of scraping and sanding later. Don't get me wrong - I think the homeowner gets a better quality job for it, but you as the contractor ends up doing more work.
> 
> I've watched my competition, a very highly respected contractor in my town who seems to get the lion's share of the work, and I've seen them go around the house with spray bottles with bleach and spray an area here and another area there. And that's when I learned that Americans are in general shallow and are taken in by whatever marketing/sales front their respective contractor shows them.
> 
> Case in point, I did this farmers porch job for some folks that are semi-neighbors back in '06. Took off all ten+ layers of paint from their floorboards and replaced about a 1/4th of the fir boards as well, not to mention fixed the sub-scructure. I even used this system to paint their tongue and groove farmers' porch ceiling, which was peeling horribly - used XIM peelbond as part of the process and California Paints for everything. The freaking job still looks perfect today. At the same time a new paint contractor was getting his feet in the neighborhood and did the house diagonal from the job I was doing - we talked and he bragged about using the best ingredients and his 7 year warrantee. I was like whatever. He's been back to that same house 4+ times now fixing his work, the last time was last year and he repainted at least half the freaking house!!!! And I bet he didn't do it for free like he promised.
> 
> To add insult to injury he's now been painting for the people I painted for 7 years ago.
> 
> You see I am the guy with the real authentic prep, the jobs that in real life actually last 7+ years - and the other guy is just hype - but he puts a better front and gets all the work. It ain't about quality guys, it's all about who can blow better smoke up a homeowner's a$$.


Its about quality to the right person. My customers pay me for quality and I deliver it. If you choose the high quality route, you have to know how to price it _and_ sell it. But you are correct, someone that knows how to sell and offers average quality can blow a "craftsman" out of the water.


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## rohit123

I never use it but my uncle ever use to do this.


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## Joeb3rg

If the customer pays....WE WASH!


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## NPYYZ

cdpainting said:


> How many of you power wash the house before painting.


For me it depends on the house. If there is no mildew, dirt, or chalky substance on the building I don't power wash. If there is minimal mold/mildew I treat it with bleach through a pump sprayer and rinse with a regular garden hose.


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## premierpainter

If we are stripping the house, no wash. No strip....always wash. We don't wash to remove paint, just mold, grime and dirt.


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## Jmayspaint

premierpainter said:


> If we are stripping the house, no wash. No strip....always wash. We don't wash to remove paint, just mold, grime and dirt.


 What do you do then? 
If I strip I hard wash first then sand, or sometimes apply stripper then wash it off.


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## Bender

premierpainter said:


> If we are stripping the house, no wash. No strip....always wash. We don't wash to remove paint, just mold, grime and dirt.


I agree. Its not called a paint stripper, its called a pressure washer


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## premierpainter

joshmays1976 said:


> What do you do then?
> If I strip I hard wash first then sand, or sometimes apply stripper then wash it off.


Why wash if we are going to remove all of the paint? Waste of time. Hard wash is not in our vocabulary. We even throw the red tip out when we buy tips.


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## Jmayspaint

I assume with your coating systems you are never dealing with wood that will have to be stained or finished clear. This can change the advantage/ disadvantage of using chemical strippers. If removing coatings and several layers of wood I've found it advantageous to get as much of with the washer quickly. It cuts sanding time way down. 
I'm always looking for better, quicker ways to strip wood without discoloring it. 
I can't see any use for the red tips either.
If a washer is not a paint stripper, what is? A putty knife? Seems like it would take forever.
The ceiling in this pic was stripped with hard wash/sand method. It had multiple coats of latex finish on it. It turned out great, but I'm open to different methods. Hoping I can do it faster in the future.


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## jonathanthepainter

I live in an area that is mostly forest, mold and mildew return yearly.

I wash everything exterior prior to painting, staining.

I also offer to all of my customers an annual cleaning, and coating check up.

It helps get the year off to a good start. 

This year 34 repeat customers up from 27 last year!


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## Gumerk

joshmays1976 said:


> I assume with your coating systems you are never dealing with wood that will have to be stained or finished clear. This can change the advantage/ disadvantage of using chemical strippers. If removing coatings and several layers of wood I've found it advantageous to get as much of with the washer quickly. It cuts sanding time way down.
> I'm always looking for better, quicker ways to strip wood without discoloring it.
> I can't see any use for the red tips either.
> If a washer is not a paint stripper, what is? A putty knife? Seems like it would take forever.
> The ceiling in this pic was stripped with hard wash/sand method. It had multiple coats of latex finish on it. It turned out great, but I'm open to different methods. Hoping I can do it faster in the future.


Joshmays, what kind of tip are you using for your hardwash method, and can you go into more detail on it? What do you not like about the red tips, and do you ever use them for blasting off larger areas of flaking paint at the right distance? Sounds interesting thanks


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## Brian C

I participated in a lead management course yesterday. The instructor informed the class of a test case law suit against a young painter that power washed an old weatherboard house in Hobart Tasmania. He blew off paint chips and flakes from the house when power-washing and it was all over the garden.

The woman homeowner was furious, and sacked the painter. She then called the local council authorities and made a formal complaint about the contamination of her garden. The environmental protection association made a detailed report with soil tests and concluded the homeowner must move out of the house and 3 inches of topsoil must be removed from the entire property. Also the roof cavity needed to be vacuumed for lead dust. The cost against the painter is $100,000 and his public liability insurance will escalate in the future.


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## Damon T

Brian C said:


> I participated in a lead management course yesterday. The instructor informed the class of a test case law suit against a young painter that power washed an old weatherboard house in Hobart Tasmania. He blew off paint chips and flakes from the house when power-washing and it was all over the garden.
> 
> The woman homeowner was furious, and sacked the painter. She then called the local council authorities and made a formal complaint about the contamination of her garden. The environmental protection association made a detailed report with soil tests and concluded the homeowner must move out of the house and 3 inches of topsoil must be removed from the entire property. Also the roof cavity needed to be vacuumed for lead dust. The cost against the painter is $100,000 and his public liability insurance will escalate in the future.


Yeah I'm super careful pressure washing old houses. We go for more of a soft wash. I also try to bring landscape fabric to contain if any chips do come off, but prefer if none come off. Often times we do all the scraping type prep before the washing. 
Not sure where Tasmania is but pretty sure it's not in the USA. However, still need to be careful here. Maybe even more so.


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## MKap

Can you even pressure wash lead houses without collecting the run off?


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## Brian C

Sorry, Tasmania is right down the bottom of Australia. You guys have heard about the Tasmanian devil haven't you ?

I'm a bit scared about power washing old houses after this law suit against the young painter.


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## Epoxy Pro

MKap said:


> Can you even pressure wash lead houses without collecting the run off?


You must contain the run off, filter it before disposal. We have so many lead painted houses around here we do not powerwash unless there is mold, when we do we are only PW the moldy spots. the Lead Inspector is all over this erea shutting jobs down for not following the laws. newer homes we do PW.


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## Jmayspaint

Gumerk said:


> Joshmays, what kind of tip are you using for your hardwash method, and can you go into more detail on it? What do you not like about the red tips, and do you ever use them for blasting off larger areas of flaking paint at the right distance? Sounds interesting thanks


 I don't use the red tips because its too easy to gouge the wood deeper than you want to sand. Especially with softer woods like pine, you can just about drill a hole with it if your not careful. Plus the pattern is too small, and can make lines that will show. 
I use the yellow tips(15*) or the green(25*) for hard washing. For me its about getting close and going slowly but evenly and without stopping. 
I do a lot of houses with failing paint jobs. I've Been back an forth about if this method saves time over just scraping/sanding alone, and have tried both ways. A lot of times, its not immediately apparent where a coating has failed ( lost its bond) until you hit it with the washer. It may be overkill, but I look at it like this; if the coating comes off with washing, its not bonded properly and needs to come off. Sound coatings, in good condition will not wash off, even with close washing. 
Sure, there are some situations where its not feasible to do this even if you use landscape cloth, because of the mess. 
The job in the previous pics had an interior latex coating that had deteriorated from being outside for 9 years, it washed off pretty easily. Although I'm thinking to try the one of the new non toxic strippers ( maybe soybean based) for phase two of this job to maybe save some sanding time. 10 square feet per 1.5 hours is slow!


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## Jmayspaint

BTW, I never power wash lead houses. 

If anyone has done contained washing successfully I would be interested to hear about it. When I think about all you would have to do to contain, it just doesn't seem feasible in most cases.


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## Gumerk

joshmays1976 said:


> I don't use the red tips because its too easy to gouge the wood deeper than you want to sand. Especially with softer woods like pine, you can just about drill a hole with it if your not careful. Plus the pattern is too small, and can make lines that will show.
> I use the yellow tips(15*) or the green(25*) for hard washing. For me its about getting close and going slowly but evenly and without stopping.
> I do a lot of houses with failing paint jobs. I've Been back an forth about if this method saves time over just scraping/sanding alone, and have tried both ways. A lot of times, its not immediately apparent where a coating has failed ( lost its bond) until you hit it with the washer. It may be overkill, but I look at it like this; if the coating comes off with washing, its not bonded properly and needs to come off. Sound coatings, in good condition will not wash off, even with close washing.
> Sure, there are some situations where its not feasible to do this even if you use landscape cloth, because of the mess.
> The job in the previous pics had an interior latex coating that had deteriorated from being outside for 9 years, it washed off pretty easily. Although I'm thinking to try the one of the new non toxic strippers ( maybe soybean based) for phase two of this job to maybe save some sanding time. 10 square feet per 1.5 hours is slow!


Thanks for that. Yes the red tip is frustrating, especially when you accidentally skim the drive way heh just one foot messes it up. It seems like the red tip really blasts the loose paint off faster if I go in a up down side to side pattern and step back about 4-5 more feet, but maybe this is easier and just as quick with the green tip and sliding up closer without the risk of damage to the wood? And I need to invest in some of that landscape clothe for sure...one of the hardest things to sweep up or even pick up by hand has got to be paint chips


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## PressurePros

joshmays1976 said:


> BTW, I never power wash lead houses.
> 
> If anyone has done contained washing successfully I would be interested to hear about it. When I think about all you would have to do to contain, it just doesn't seem feasible in most cases.


I spoke to the EPA office directly about this. The only thing you have to contain are chips.


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## Jmayspaint

One of the best paint chip catchers I've used is the safety net that goes around a trampoline. We didn't use the one on ours, and I was looking at it one day and thought 'this will work great to catch chips' and it does. Gets all but the smallest chips, and is durable enough to be used many times.


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## Jmayspaint

PressurePros said:


> I spoke to the EPA office directly about this. The only thing you have to contain are chips.


Wow. Had no idea. I thought all the run off water would have to be contained as well. :game changer: thanks


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## ReNt A PaInTeR

PressurePros said:


> I spoke to the EPA office directly about this. The only thing you have to contain are chips.


I think I will call and record the conversation for security purposes.


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## alanbarrington

PressurePros said:


> I spoke to the EPA office directly about this. The only thing you have to contain are chips.


We most of the time will pressure wash house before we paint and same thing here about the lead we only have to contain the chips, now back home in R.I is different you have contain the run off to dig 18" down around whole house and they issue you tags to put on the bags which must be tied with double goose neck tape and your license number on them. I have only done a couple here in Cali so far. But to get back to topic I personally I like washing house before paint just one them things I have always done.

Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk


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## alanbarrington

ReNt A PaInTeR said:


> I think I will call and record the conversation for security purposes.


Lol

Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk


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## premierpainter

joshmays1976 said:


> One of the best paint chip catchers I've used is the safety net that goes around a trampoline. We didn't use the one on ours, and I was looking at it one day and thought 'this will work great to catch chips' and it does. Gets all but the smallest chips, and is durable enough to be used many times.


We use shade tarps for animals. They are expensive, but save you tons of time picking up chips. We have a couple, one is 20x20 and runs around $120. They would typically be found over dog kennels.


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## bskerley

Here is what I have to say about worrying if it is dry. In AZ in the summer alot of guys will mist the house with water minutes before painting to drop the surface temp a bit. I have yet to do this and I couldnt tell you what they houses are looking like years later. But water based is water based so who knows. Maybe slight moisture is ok.


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## Scannell Painting

premierpainter said:


> We use shade tarps for animals. They are expensive, but save you tons of time picking up chips. We have a couple, one is 20x20 and runs around $120. They would typically be found over dog kennels.


We use landscape fabric, cheap & works well.


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## Damon T

bskerley said:


> Here is what I have to say about worrying if it is dry. In AZ in the summer alot of guys will mist the house with water minutes before painting to drop the surface temp a bit. I have yet to do this and I couldnt tell you what they houses are looking like years later. But water based is water based so who knows. Maybe slight moisture is ok.


There is a difference between moisture content of the wood, from driving the water into the wood with a pressure washer, and gently misting the surface with water before painting. Best to let the wood return to its relative moisture content level before painting, but spraying with a little water won't hurt. 
We just try to paint in the shade all day long, and if we have to do a sunny side, we try to do it early in the morning before it gets too hot.


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