Nice Day to Wash my House, with Tips

What a Lovely morning to wash my house.  Because I wanted time for adventures and to hang in my sanctuary,  low maintenance materials was a high priority.  So this will be a quick, easy fun job with years between. 
             You have seen many tiny houses with heavy, wood, rustic looking exterior planking.  It looks wonderful, but, oh my, the upkeep.  First of all, if you want to move around a lot, that’s a great deal of extra weight to carry that serves no life-style function.  Then, be prepared to water seal it every few months, or it will dry, crack and splinter, attracting mold, wasps, termites and all manner of wood loving maladies.  

I opted for vinyl siding. It goes on easily, is reasonably priced, and it’s non-porous surface with tight seams leave little opportunity for invasion by house eating molds, mildews and critters.  When I installed it, I put in lots of extra screws to keep it tight, even after many anticipated years of gale force winds from lots of highway hauling in the Gypsy Life-Style.  And the MS color fast 45 is a thermoset paint of polyester resin with silicone resin which protects the color from chalking, fading and chemicals. Again, put in extra self-rubber watered roofing screws to guard against lifting in the gale force winds of driving. 

As you can see, after 2 1/2 years under a solid tree canopy with little direct sun, Much mold, mildew and critter pods have crept onto the landscape of the exterior trim and siding, not to mention the skylights, through which I enjoy my ever changing window on the sky/tree world. But, they are all on the surface, outer skin, of the house and kept from invading substructure.

This is my formula for a quick clean up.  First you will want to get a Carrand Flow Through, Extension Washing Brush.  You hook it up to your garden hose, and it has a sliding water release lever, so, with a flick of the thumb, you can do a water pre wash, suds and scrub, and a full flush rinse.  If you have more money than time, you can rent a power washer, and blast all that crud off !  In either event, your  key ingredient is a jug of concentrated Rainex Foaming Car Wash.   First of all it will gently lift the grime from your surface, without stripping or dulling it, while it’s flowing action formula greatly reduces spotting and streaking, especially on windows and skylights.  You will want to have a squeegee attached to a broom handle to swipe out any bubbles that may sneak through. Then it’s residual film and flowing action reduce scum build up and add time between cleanups. You can also, periodically spray Rainex Rain Shield on your Skylights and Windows, and buff them up, to keep them clear and sparkling.  The instructions say to add it to a pail of water.  But, hauling around that heavy, sloppy pail is way too much work for me !  Simply get a spray bottle, so after your pre-wash, spray the concentrate on the brush and set your water flow to a drizzle to scrub clean, open the water flow to full stream, to rinse.  And you’ve just Splash’n’Dashed your whole house, roof, skylights, windows and exterior siding, in no time at all !

Touch up any paint wear with a quick squirt of Rust-0-Leum paint to match.  Make sure you prevent spray over flow onto other colored trim, with some paper/paper bags. 

The ramp was created with spaces between strips to prevent standing water, and the taller 
slip-stop strip is an important safety feature, along with the rope railings.  The  non-skid tread strip stapled on the tall ramp strips makes a real difference, and need to be replaced. But, until then, all that’s left to do is to slap any good water seal on your wood steps or ramp, and... Spits-Spa, you’re good to go !