Although cleaning siding and sidewalks isn’t the most glamorous of house projects, a little water and the right tools can go a long way toward improving your curb appeal.
One of my house goals for this year is to amp up our curb appeal (something we, admittedly, haven’t paid much attention to since moving in 2 1/2 years ago). So David and I have been tackling some long overdue projects in the front yard lately, starting with a good cleaning of the front of our house. We washed our wood siding, windows, front steps, sidewalk and patio in an hour! And we’re going to wash out our gutters this weekend, too.
Thank you to Gilmour for sponsoring this post. All opinions of their quality hoses, nozzles and wands are 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. See my disclosure for more information.
I’ll admit I wasn’t really looking forward to this project, but washing a house wasn’t all that time intensive or difficult after all! We don’t have a pressure washer, so I went in search of some other tools that could do the job on a budget. We started our afternoon project armed with a new Gilmour brand hose and various nozzles/wands, and it turns out having the right tools makes the job easy!
Washing Siding
Our wood siding is white and was pretty grimy in places. See that mildew? I thought we’d need to repaint it to get a clean white again, but a good cleaning is all it really needed.
David picked up a jug of this house and siding cleaner at the hardware store, and we poured the cleaning solution into to the canister of the Foamaster Cleaning Sprayer. This gadget is so nifty! All you do is add soap or cleaner, screw it onto the end of your garden hose and start spraying. David had the front of our house soaped up in no time.
We let the soap work its magic for 10 minutes as the cleaner packaging instructed. I used a bristle brush to scrub some of the really dirty spots. Then we used our power jet wand to rinse off the soap. The power jet wand had plenty of pressure to get rid of the dirt and grime. Our white siding looks so much better now!
Washing Windows
Next up was our windows! We mixed a couple squirts of dish soap with water to make a window cleaner, and sprayed it on the windows with our Foamaster Cleaning Sprayer.
A quick once-over with our power jet wand and the windows were spic and span. We didn’t have a squeegee handy, but that would have been a good final step to reduce streaks.
Washing Pavement
Our concrete steps and front patio are in desperate need of some attention, and washing them is a crucial first step. I can hardly wait to finish a few more projects that will make those steps and patio more inviting!
We first removed weeds from the cracks in our sidewalk and patio and swept off all the loose dirt and grass. Then we used this adjustable spray nozzle to wash away the remaining dirt and debris.
Once the patio was free of dirt, David used the power jet wand to apply a high pressure water stream. This cleaned away a lot of the dirty spots that I assumed were permanently stained.
Cleaning Gutters
We’re headed back outside this weekend to clean out the gutters, and our power jet wand is going to be a super helpful tool for cleaning out debris.
By the way, doesn’t my husband make a good model? He was reluctant to help with this project, but our hose attachments made things easy.
Washing a house was one of those projects that seemed way more intimidating and time intensive than it actually turned out to be. Home improvement projects often seem daunting, especially when we’ve never done them before. But I’ve learned that doing some research and gathering the right supplies for the job makes it way easier to start a new project.
What house projects are you working on this week? Are there any supplies you recommend for washing a house?
Have a great day!
Thank you to Gilmour for sponsoring this post. All opinions of their quality hoses, nozzles and wands are 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. See my disclosure for more information.
Looks great!
Thanks, Joy!