Post by thecatinthehat on Sept 16, 2014 17:54:44 GMT -5
Have you done it? How long will it take? Feel free to tell me we are crazy. I am so confused about soaps and stuff. The guy at the rental place said they don't sell any of those soaps, etc.
We had two different guys come and they both quoted us ~$1-1.5K Ugh! DH decided we will at least attempt to DIY and see the improvements. It varies who we talk to here but people apparently do it between 2x a year to every 2 years. I think it depends which area in the island you are on (dry or wet, we live in Hawaii). Our house sat vacant and foreclosed for almost 2 years and badly needs a wash. House is 2 floors (no basement), 1400sqft, so not huge by mainland standards.
Post by msmerymac on Sept 16, 2014 18:10:04 GMT -5
Oh, no. Don't pay that much.
We rented one at Home Depot. They can help get you set up if you tell them what you want to do. This was our house we were renting (duplex, actually), about 2-3 years ago. They rent by the hour, I think.
Anyway, we paid something like $65? No more than $85. This was in Los Angeles, so HCOL (though not as high as HI). And it even fit in the trunk of my little car. We got to Home Depot when they opened around 7:30, drove a few miles home, hooked up the hose (you'll probably need a long one) and we were done by about 9. I think we returned it by 9:30, even though I had estimated renting it for 4 hours or something. We didn't use soap, just the water stream.
We didn't really do the whole house, but we concentrated a lot on our porch and the surrounding area, as well as windows and around the back laundry room area. But for you? Less than a 1 day (8 hr) rental. Really. We had stucco exterior, btw. I was slightly afraid of taking the finish off the house, but you just switch it to a lighter stream (which is still powerful). And wear safety glasses, or at least sunglasses.
Did just use water? The rental place is renting them for $90/day actually which is pretty good. The only downside is they close at noon on Saturdays and closed through Sunday, so I think we will just do a 2 day rental.
Did just use water? The rental place is renting them for $90/day actually which is pretty good. The only downside is they close at noon on Saturdays and closed through Sunday, so I think we will just do a 2 day rental.
Yes, just water! We didn't have any moss/mildew - the problem in SoCal is mainly small pollution particles that kind of coat everything like dust. So it was just looking really dingy. The water made it look great. As great as a 1927 stucco house that's being used as a rental can look.
Post by peachykate on Sept 16, 2014 18:51:28 GMT -5
Definitely do it yourself and look into buying one of you think you will do it once a year. We also use it on our patio furniture, the kid's outdoor toys, ect.
My Husband does hvac so he has a power washer at his disposal. I used it a couple weeks ago to get the green mildew off the side of our new white sided house. I realized really quickly that I could not just stand there I had to constantly move my arm in a scrubbing motion so the water would push the green off the siding. If I was a little lazy and just sprayed it wouldn't do much. After I was finished it looked amazing though. Worth the effort and got an extra arm workout that I wasn't expecting.
We ended up buying a pressure washer and honestly it has already paid for itself. We did our entire house and deck. We had the green mildew on the sides of our house and with the pressure washer and the cleaner it just came off. DH an I took turns with the washer because like the others said, your arm can get sore easily since you're always having to move it.
Post by Overthemoon on Sept 18, 2014 19:57:38 GMT -5
We were paying between $400 and $600 to have our house pressure-washed once a year, and with the GA pollen it really could have used two cleanings. We finally bought our own pressure washer and an extension attachment this year, I think we paid around $400 for all of it. DH had to fiddle with the best cleaning mixture to put in there but it's been SO useful so far. He washed the whole house, got most of the paint off of the porch we need to re-paint, washed the hammock, cleaned out the kid's pool, and I'm going to have him spray off the wicker furniture I want to repaint.