6 Reasons to Pressure Wash Before Staining Your Deck or Painting Your Home
Why to Pressure Wash Before a Deck Stain
Coating your home’s exterior surfaces is a sizable task. Not only is there a lot of area to cover -- there’s also considerable work to do before you start the painting or staining. Painting your home or staining your deck without properly preparing the surfaces beforehand won’t do you or your property any favors. Even the highest quality coatings will have a hard time sticking to a dirty, damaged surface, necessitating repairs and re-dos in the near future. Pressure washing a necessary early step in preparing your surfaces for new coatings. Let’s discuss six reasons to pressure wash your surfaces before staining your deck or painting your home.
1. Blast Away Dirt, Dust, and Debris
Exterior surfaces must deal with the various forces of nature, such as wind, rain, pests, pollen, etc. As a result, they will gradually get caked with dirt and debris. Not only is this membrane of residue unsightly, it can also do harm to your house exterior and eventually affect your interior as well. Cleaning your home’s exterior at least twice a year is important for keeping your surfaces spotless, and if you’re preparing to paint your home or stain your deck, you want to ensure that you’re working with a clean slate. Pressure washing offers a powerful and effective way to blast away the filth that has collected on your home’s outside surfaces.
2. Eliminate Mold and Mildew
Dirt and dust aren’t the only factors to worry about when updating your exterior. In warm and humid environments, fungi like mold and mildew can thrive on exterior surfaces, especially in crevices (i.e. between siding boards, underneath the roof, around trim, etc.). Whether or not you’re about to paint your home, getting rid of mold and/or mildew as quickly as possible is crucial for protecting your home from harm and maintaining a safe and healthy environment for your interior. Mold and mildew can eat away at your paint job and your surfaces themselves. If these fungal foes gain entry into your home, they can cause allergic reactions and respiratory problems. Merely painting over a moldy surface won’t solve the problem. Fortunately, the pressure, heat, friction, and detergent present in pressure washing makes it relatively easy to eliminate all traces of fungal infestation on your home so it’s clean, safe, and ready to paint.
3. Identify Signs of Damage
Before staining your deck or painting your home, you should carefully inspect your surfaces for signs of damage so you can make necessary repairs. Of course, the cleaner these surfaces are, the easier it will be to see these signs. In other words, pressure washing your surfaces prior to exterior home painting helps you get a clearer view of the condition of your siding, trim, deck, etc. For instance, a fracture in one of the boards of your wooden deck might go unnoticed if the surface is riddled with dirt, dust, and debris. Failing to locate this issue won’t allow you to fix it, which can lead to larger problems down the road.
4. Prepare Surfaces for Paint or Stain
Cleaning and preparing your surfaces is an important task in its own right, but performing these tasks also contributes to the outcome of your paint job overall. Coatings are meant to strongly adhere to the surfaces to which they’re applied. This is how they serve to protect surfaces from harm. If there is a layer of dirt, dust, or other elements, between the material and the ensuing paint or deck stain, it will interfere with this bond. As a result, only portions of the coating will stick directly to the surface as desired. Before long, the less adherent portions will shift and peel away, taking surrounding parts of the coating with them. When this happens, you’ll have to remove the shedding layers and start again. Conversely, applying your coatings to a thoroughly cleaned surface is a recipe for strong adherence, less maintenance, and peace of mind. This is why the importance of pressure washing before painting or staining is emphasized so strongly. Failing to do so will result in an uneven coating with a short lifespan and poor protection.
5. Save Yourself Time and Energy
You might be wondering whether all of the benefits listed above couldn’t also be achieved via manual cleaning methods (i.e. sweeping, scrubbing, mopping, etc.). In theory, you could achieve similar outcomes this way, but cleaning surfaces the old fashioned way is extremely time-consuming, labor-intensive, and ultimately less effective than simply using a pressure washer when it’s called for. The cleaning must get done either way, so you might as well go with the most efficient option.
However, you shouldn’t operate a pressure washer without the proper knowledge and experience. Standing too closely to a surface, aiming poorly, and/or using the wrong power/heat settings, nozzles, or detergent can actually damage your surfaces and potentially put yourself and others in harm’s way. So, unless you know what you’re doing, consider hiring pressure washing services to clean your exterior surfaces before painting.
6. Boost Your Home’s Value
Even if you don’t plan on selling your home anytime soon, you want your home to maintain the highest value possible. It’s no secret that your home’s curb appeal and structural integrity are major factors in determining its market value. Pressure washing prior to coating your surfaces helps you maintain or even increase your property’s demand. After all, pressure washing keeps your home clean and well protected from damage while providing a clean, even surface for proper adherence when it’s time to apply new coatings. Skipping this step is a dangerous shortcut that will end up depreciating your home’s value in the long run, not to mention leave you with more on your plate regarding maintenance and repairs.
Whether you wish to stain your deck, update your entire exterior, or both, we at Nash Painting understand what it takes to achieve the most beautiful and enduring results possible. If you’re overwhelmed by the amount of work required to get there, we’re here to help. Our pressure washing and painting/staining professionals have helped countless homeowners in Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, TN and surrounding areas maintain, update, and improve their properties. To learn more about us, our services, and our values, call us at 615-829-6858 today!