Exterior Painting Step 1: Pressure-Washing the House 

Thank you for all of your videos! I am doing research and preparing to paint my 2 story house that is 1600 feet. I am a woman and some of my co-workers (that are male) are telling me i can't do this big of a job, but thanks to your videos, I am seeing that I really can! thank you so much!!

This video series is the best out there and holds the test of time. I came back today to get a review of the cleaning solution ratios. I had a tough time finding the video. Perhaps I'll write it down this time. I used this series to paint my house 7 years ago. My house still looks great. Use good paint.

Your demonstrations are incredibly detailed and very informative. Thank you for taking the time to make these videos.

Thanks a bunch for putting these videos together. I've watched all of them and followed your steps for our prep. We're shooting our body/gables tomorrow with trim work to follow the following days. Your videos have been a tremendous help! Very informative and enjoyable to watch. Thanks again.

Being a big band jazz trumpet player, I love your music. Good instruction too. Getting ready to paint my garage. Thanks.

Thanks for all your information, I always say "learn from the pros to be an expert" , and you are helping me a lot in my trade, people ask me all the time to paint their home after Im done with drywall finish, and your videos show me the right way to do it! thank you very much, now I have more work thanks to you, god bless you!

you sir are the MAN! I feel way more confident painting my house now. What a service!

Glad you found the videos helpful, and good luck with the paint job.

Excellent video! Was thinking of pressure washing house myself but now....may need to hire someone. Thank you for your honesty. Love it!

Will do.nice way to prep for exterior painting.great help,tnx for this vid.

Hey, thanks for the nice comment. Glad you find the videos helpful. Good luck with your painting!

Thank you for giving some good information on House Painting.

Great Video, and an Awesome Tutorial, this video has helped me a whole lot,..... Thanks!!!!!!

Holy shit this is the exact video I’m looking for and you took the time to make series. Thank you

Hi, great video , we added you to our playlist. Enjoy the holidays! -Steve

Hi--pretty much any siding can be painted, but there might be priming required, or other variables...I would need to know more specifics about what type of siding you are asking about.

Awesome

great video. No rambling straight to the point!!

Hey! Thanks for the great video. Quick question, I just did an addition on my house and have new, un-painted siding. Its will have been a few weeks before i will get a chance to paint it. Do i need to primer that siding, and or wash it before? Or will the exterior house paint act as the primer?

Hello i owner of custom pressure washing ,llc in Atlanta Ga and its by watching tons of videos like this that made e as good as i a thanks for sharing

thank you friend

Ordered your book as well from Amazon.

Can this detergent be safely used on stucco as well as all types of siding? Any special care required when pressure washing stucco? Thanks!

What tip is best to use during the pressure washing?

Thank you for your tips but could you specify which JOMAX TO BUY???? There are many on Amazon for example from 19.00 to 90.00 USD. They are mostly " house detergents". I would appreciate your answer bcse I need to start on my house cleaning and painting this week or the next. Thank you

Would you use those cleaning agents on a stucco house?

It's a big job and looks great! What about spraying bleach on the mold several days before power washing and letting it dry? Would that be ok?

I've have question, does the pressure spray can get gator paint off the house easy? I've try use pressure washing it out, but none of them come off, so do you have any tips about getting gator old paint off my house or what I am doing wrong pressure washing?

Never heard of a down stream injector but it sounds interesting. Put up a video! Homeowners using a regular pressure washer will probably need a ladder. Thanks for commenting.

Sure - go for it.

Hey, thanks a lot! I really appreciate that you ordered my book. I'm glad you found the videos useful. If you don't mind, I'd like to share your comment on my Facebook page.

I haven't watched all of your videos yet & maybe this is answered somewhere else but can you do this washing and what not on exposed wood siding from chipping paint?

Next time when power washing add some Dawn dish detergent to your cleaning solution (1.5oz per gallon). I think this will save you from having to clean the windows after power washing.

Doing it right is probably the difference between a paint job that can last a decade or more..and one that starts peeling almost a month later.. so yeah..the prep is JOB #1 .. thanks so much for thise video.. I had some painter come to give me an estimate.. and the house is mostly brick except for the top of a typical rambler home.. and the cheapest was in the thousands.. and I ask what prep job they did.. the guy was . we scrape and paint.. no powerwash, just a quickl swipe with a rag... and slap on the paint.. I was like.. that dont sound right to me.. no wonder the guy was squirly about any warranty.. he was.. if it dont stick its the paint manufacturer fault.. pfft.. I never called them back.

A viewer asked me if it's necessary to use the detergent, or if simply spraying with high-pressure water is enough. I believe the detergent is very important to remove any grime/pollution/chalking that may cause adhesion problems with the new paint. Using detergent also means you are not relying on the water pressure to do the cleaning, because really all you want is a high-pressure rinse. Anything more than that risks damaging the siding. Spray on the detergent, pressure-wash it off, and that should take care of the cleaning.

Lol, like that music!

that joemaxx is the best stuff , good work

Yes, but you need to make sure you give the siding ample time to dry thoroughly. In the case of exposed wood, it could take several days or even more, depending on the climate where you live.

Do you need to wear the suit thing?

Washes house then realizes it doesn't even need a paint job lol

how much detergent and bleach per gallon of water!?

I love your videos - watched the whole series! I am about to spray some shakes - should I roll back over them - or is spraying them good enough?

What I was hoping to see was how you cleaned the high areas above your head, not the easy areas. How would you clean the areas 20' or so up that aren't easily accessible?

since jomax is mainly for wood, what would be a good cleaner to use lets say if the house is all concrete ?

+howtopaintahouse One question, we just stained our redwood deck.... but regardless of that fact.... the question is, will the Jomax/bleach mixture damage the stain or the wood itself? Thanks.

If you use a 2500 psi pressure washer with a yellow tip can you remove paint from wood siding without damaging?

This is how needs to be done, cheap painters they skip the power washing other just rinse the house really quick, and the scraping they just go apply the paint as it is some homeowner get happy with the price till five months later when the paint start getting bubbles or peeling again.

Hi John - great videos. I notice that you use a bug style sprayer to get the detergent on the house. Most of the pressure washers I see have a way of spraying the detergent. Is there an advantage to using the bug style sprayer? Also - I see some videos suggest you spray the detergent from the top to bottom. You go bottom to top. Why? Thanks again.

Please Please use a mask when doing the spraying! I suffered extreme distress and lung damage .. must have inhaled some.. John is not wearing one in the video so I neither did I.. this stuff is extremely caustic and the warnings are on the inside of the label on the cleaning solution. Jomax!

does spraying then powerwashing the eaves required, too?

would you say doing this step every 2 to 3 years after painting house is a good idea for maintenance?

is it good to pressure wash a house for just general maintenance of keeping your exterior clean, or is there another process and product involved for that?

A thin coat of petroleum jelly on the goggles will help with the paint particles ...easy to clean too

how do I reach you to ask you a question? I've received no response on here. I have really bad peeling of multiple layers of paint on the house and scraping leaves some paint, all the different layers of paint will show after the new paint is put on, what do I do?

Is it safe to do this on an old home?

I have seen some folks in my neighborhood, hired painters, use some sort of metal extension telescope or fixed long pole to avoid ladders on double story homes. the pole somehow extended the wand. I was too shy to ask them what it was. Whether they used the pole to paint or only pressure wash I also didn't see. Have you heard of this? Or did I imagine most of it ? LOL

Great video but the music is way too loud and takes away from the video...but thanks for the great tips... thanks... :)

My sex life has flourished after watching this video. Thanks!

how not to wah a house use a down stream injector dude! it takes me about 1-2 hours to wash a house up to 3 stories high and i doint use a ladder

if your gonna put something on your house use jomax at least that rinses off

Great vid but ditch the family guy sound track

You forgot to add how long to let the house dry before painting... I've heard anything from 12 hours to 2 weeks!

It didn't look dirty but it would eventually.

Literally on my way to power wash some dude's house. Hopefully I should be fine with what I saw on the video lol

isnt that cleaning solution hard on the plants. Beach and plants dont mix IMO. Also in big cities I dont think you could let that water run off into a gutter might get fined with that solution in it. Just food for thought.

Good demo but your music drove me crazy!

Really appreciate this video! One thing I'd absolutely have to disagree with is the bleach. Bleach does not actually kill mold and in fact it enrages it to grow more aggressive as bleach is mostly water and mold thrives off of water, among other things. We are working with a mold specialist for an issue in our home and they said it's the number one misconception they see is using bleach on mold.

I like your video. However, it seems silly to me why you would wash the 1st floor of the house 1st, then the 2nd. You said yourself, "start from the top, and work your way down". Am I missing something? Thanks for posting all the same though.

From cat videos to this.

Wow, That took about 5 hours... could have been done in about 30 minutes to a hour with proper equipment

Its awful old the house I mean

Slow process, Just down stream it...

What a complete and total joke using that toy pressure washer. With what you are being shown here just use a bucket and scrubbing brush, rinse it with a hose. This is the most important part of a paint job. So spend a little money and pay a professional with an industrial washer and simplify the process. NO WAY will that tiny pressure washer clean even with JoMax (Excellent product BTW) to the level that is necessary for optimum cleaning. This guy leading you all the wrong way. I would fire one of my people on the spot if they wildly washed down a house as shown. Pressure washing is done in a slow and precise pattern, with the pressure washer output held at the same distance from the surface as much as possible. Cant' emphasize enough how important to start at the top down. When you take a shower to wash your behind first? NO! Using that tiny sprayer, another joke. Spend the money and get a back pack sprayer with 4 gallon capacity and a handle pump or spoil yourself and get a battery operated pump. So you spray from top to bottom, do a final rinse, and your last work is to get the nozzle close to the cement or decking to make sure the surface is clean for where you are going to put down your masking tape. I see a lot of thumbs up here, and this is because this tool is not showing you the proper way to pressure wash. I am licensed California Contractor for over 30 years.