# Can a pressure washer eliminate scraping ?



## Morbit

Hi ... I am college student who paints during the summers. I have always used hand scrapers / sanders to prep exterior surfaces. I am thinking about buying a pressure washer. My question for for professionals .... Can pressure washers actually eliminate the need to hand scrape ??? Is it a giant time saver ???

Thanks,

Morbit


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## plainpainter

Definitely not - it just opens up more of a can of worms. This is assuming you are using high pressure nozzles and getting within 6"-8". It will remove paint that scrapers never would have - it will increase your scraping time - it will be a better job though - the only system I have ever seen was guys that use that makita grinder - pressure wash, then go over areas real quick with the grinder. 

I have scraped some homes - then came back a week later with a pressure washer - and removed tons more loose paint - then rescraped and then finally sanded. There is just no end to prep - the only question is, how much is the customer willing to pay for? What I would do is scrape, sand, then a do a low pressure version of pressure washing just to clean up all the dust and get rid of mildew. 

I initially got into pressure washing because of the claims of not having to scrape - LOL.


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## Rich

Morbit said:


> Can pressure washers actually eliminate the need to hand scrape ???


No. Both are needed, despite the desire to want to save a step. 

...and welcome to the forum Morbit


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## timhag

I agree with Rich and Plainpainter, the bottom line is


plainpainter said:


> There is just no end to prep - the only question is, how much is the customer willing to pay for?


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## Barry M

*Pressure Washer Not Enough*

There is always scraping after washing.


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## Kelly Painting

For older barns... where prep isn't in the price, I will just powerwash to remove as much as possible, then paint.

For historic restoration.... I powerwash as much off as possible... then go to my Makita sander.. then to a palm sander.. then lightly wash again to remove dust.

But the answer to your question is YES. Even though you will always have to scrape or sand... it saves me allot of time, and I can charge extra for it.

I think plainpainter is right... it's what the customer will pay for.


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## plainpainter

Not to mention with the state coming down on lead abatement - even pressure washers will kick lead chips everywhere. My thoughts are almost for homes like the one pictured above - that the integrity of the old paint is so bad, so much comes off - the remaining paint will peel so badly in as little as 6 months - that you might as well sell paint on a total paint removal using chemicals.


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## Pressure Cleaning

With that pressure washer don't forget your reclaiming equipment.
http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/


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## Sprayer

I painted an old Victorian house this last summer. To make a long story short that already hasn't been said. The house should have been sand blasted. But it is what the customer will pay for.


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## Joewho

On historic homes, like the one kelly has pictured, a powerwasher is absolutely necessary. And the spinner tip is also necessary. Why bother with anything else? Scraping and sanding is also necessary after the wash. 
The older homes still have some of the linseed oil products that are a real bitch to scrape and a bitch to powerwash off, come to thing of it. It's so tough that you still need to sand the wood fibers raised by the power washer. Most modern houses benefit from the wash and spot scraping, but nothing like the old linseed oil houses.

I usually just wrap masking tape around the knuckes before I start. Becuase I'm going to wind up doing it anyway. Bandaids don't hold up.

Bring a file with you to sharpen your scrapers as you go.


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## PressurePros

I have done some pressure washing paint prep for house painters. Its too messy and you guys don't pay enough


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## cole191919

I pressure wash most exteriors that I do. This is mainly because it can remove a lot of loose paint as well as clean areas such as vinyl or wood siding to ensure a great seal for the areas that have remaining paint on it. It is definitely true that it can open a huge can of worms but I mean in essence if paint is old and its gonna come off it will come off eventually anyway. Whether you scrape it off, blast it off with a pressure washer, or it peels off underneath your brand new paint job - its gonna come off. But in no event whatsoever will it ever eliminate the pains of scraping. Although I wish it did.


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## Z paint

sometimes powerwashing has blown to much paint off and then there is more priming to do(one bad situation for me one time) also it can dampen the wood if it is exposed and sometimes in bad cases it my need a day to dry if the wood is to wet


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## plainpainter

I've had homes where two layers of latex over a very powdery oil finish - and it would bubble as soon as you layed on the latex. So I scraped the whole house down - waited a week - came back and pressure washed it with 2800psi and a turbo nozzle, got even more paint off, and then scraped again and orbital sanded - and then lastly a low pressure wash to get rid of dust and clean up the wood. It was a nightmare - but the results were spectacular!


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## Thomas Zayatz

*How much did that cost?*

I'd love to have that level of prep on my home but as it has been said previously in this thread the cost of prep is determined by what the customer is willing to pay. All too often we have to "chintz" on the prep but this is of course penn wize and pound foolish. 

Can you give a ball park on the total cost of this terrific prep job and the cost of applying the paint?

Thanks,

Thomas Zayatz


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## plainpainter

I did two sides of a cape, the back side had a raised roof and was 2 stories - total cost back then was $5500 - whole house would have been about 9 grand. I have tons of pictures of that job


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## Wing 54

How many times have you heard that your price was your price. I'm a believer in if ya' don't know you better walk away from it.

Maybe too old school, but oh well.


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## mjay

I'm putting on my flame suit.:whistling2:

Never, ever use a pressure washer on wood siding to clean/remove/prep.
Clean = bristle brush and bucket.
Remove = Scrapers, mechanical or hand. Heat [on low, and slow]. Chemicals [Messy, nuetralizing issues]
Preparation = See above.

Pressure washer are useful/appropriate for rinsing wood siding.
The right way is never easy, but it sure is satisfying.


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## THINKPAINTING

Never made much sense to me to inject water into wood at high pressure:blink: 

What is wood and paints worst enemy...............water, moisture 

Ive seen painters(so called) PW a house on monday and start painting the next day.........

We have painted many Victorians since 1970's without blasting paint off with water.....

I agree with ---what is the customer willing to pay for just not a big fan of blasting paint off with water.....


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## plainpainter

his customers to pay for a full 100% mechanical grind of all the paint. Which is great - but level of prep is even much more expensive than mine - which many won't pay for already - yet they ask in the same breath about warranties, huh? Didn't I just tell the homeowner the paint jobs is only as good as the amount of prep they are willing to pay for? Anyways - I have also noticed - that scrapers can glide right over certain areas and not lift the paint off - yet the pressure washer injects so much pressure, it reveals these weak spots, that would come off anyways. And true the moisture gets wet - but that's why you let it dry. I have scraped and sanded - and it took 2 weeks after I pressure washed before I could beging to think about priming - all moisture issues were long gone by then.


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## spraymonster

http://www.paintshaver.com/paintshaver.html

good tool on wood ..have to get paid for the prep.. customers are tight somtimes


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## smithoman

Great question about pressure washing versus scraping. In the old days pressure washing was touted as the solution to all of that hand scraping. Of course it is never that easy. 

I pride myself on being an expert pressure washer as well as an expert in exterior preparation. What seperates the innocent from the painters is the ability to pressure wash. First, aquire and learn to use a rototip. If this isn't part of your equipment then go back to the world of the innocents. 

On concrete, stucco or any other indestructable substrate, turn the pressure up all the way and blast. But be careful and pay attention. I have had red bricks disentigrate and this is not desirable. On wood, you want to strip off all possible bad stuff but not cause the wood to start to splinter or shred. Push the envelope but don't go into the area where the wood starts to come apart in any way. 

I've taught many people to pressure wash and the distance from the substrate is everything. You will learn to watch this and that's what being an expert is all about. 

Seriously, you must learn to use a roto tip or just walk away!

After you pressure wash any substrate you must inspect and hand scrape or sand what it necessary. In lots of cases, pressure washing loosens lots of bad stuff and get's it ready for the scraping. There is no substitute for hand scraping and sanding...don't get me started on priming!!!

Hope this helps you. 

Smitho


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## deach

Wow some interesting posts here. Washing of the substrate is necessary to remove dirt, mold, wasp nests, etc etc. There are many wood projects where you should NEVER use high pressure on the homes. Imagine this....You get your Roto tip out (cause you're an innocent if you don't). You start BLASTING the house with the roto tip. You immediately have a customer come running out and state you're blasting water into her house thru the old slat boards. The last large outside I did this fall I got (even though my bid was way higher) because I was NOT gonna use high pressure to wash her home. I used the same pressure I would have to clean say vinyl siding and then scraped, sanded where necessary. When I explained to her my process on "her house" *cause they're all different* she replied yes that's what I want done. Someone had just done a friend of hers house and botched it up with high pressure washing. 

To the original poster....Sorry bud, the answer to the question you ask on wood is NO!!! period. If you're too lazy to scrape or can't get the money just walk away. 

@mjay....you bout hit it on the low pressure thing bud. Thanks you've got your flame suit and I've got the extinguisher maybe we'll keep the flames down. 



AS far as the roto tip thing........well I'm not gonna start a debate here but, if it's not a RARE occasion I'd leave that thing in the tool box. It's RARE that should come out. 

I realize this is a professional painting forum and not a professional power washing forum but to do this job right, you should be able to do both. OR, pay a professional power washer to do your prep for you.


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## johnisimpson

Personally, I believe the rotary nozzle is something that is best left in the truck. Concrete and other indestructable surfaces actually don't stand up that well to a zero degree tip running at full blast. We max out at 1500 psi for concrete cleaning and only go higher for gum removal when necessary. On wood???? forget about the rotary nozzle. Decks get around 800 psi and a 40 degree tip in combination with the proper chemicals. It's great to hear that it works so well for you Smitho, but I would recommend that readers be very wary and cautious in using a rotary nozzle.


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## Woody

I like to power-wash with my clown outfit on.... All the kids "love it" when they get off the bus.... and go home to tell mommy & daddy about "the funny looking guy" doing work on Mr. Smith's house.


Stay Frosty


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## johnpaint

"Never made much sense to me to inject water into wood at high pressure"

Yeah sure: And without water the wood would not be here in the first place.
Pressure washing just like anything else, you have to do it awhile before you know what you are doing. Don't come on here and tell me pressure washing is bad to do. If a guy does not know how to use one, don't tell others what their doing is wrong/bad. There are people on here that know better. This is the kind of stuff I have to help homeowners unlearn. They hear it from people that don't know what they are talking about.


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## johnpaint

johnisimpson said:


> Personally, I believe the rotary nozzle is something that is best left in the truck. Concrete and other indestructable surfaces actually don't stand up that well to a zero degree tip running at full blast. We max out at 1500 psi for concrete cleaning and only go higher for gum removal when necessary. On wood???? forget about the rotary nozzle. Decks get around 800 psi and a 40 degree tip in combination with the proper chemicals. It's great to hear that it works so well for you Smitho, but I would recommend that readers be very wary and cautious in using a rotary nozzle.


Ever thought about adjusting your pressure?


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## johnisimpson

We adjust our pressure to fit most of our cleaning as stated with the different psi guidelines that we try to stick to.


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## Diversers

well when the new law kick in, prep a old house is going to become very, very expensive. we will be required to use 6 mil thick plastic around the perimeter of the house. when we scrap we're going to need to spray the surface down with water first. No more using heat guns and no palm sanders. with all that said ive been trying to figure out a cost affective way to strip paint. Stripping paint is big where im from


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