I've got a patio with ugly paint that is peeling and a deck that needs to be restained. Pressure washed and stained my fence last year, rented a pressure washer from Home Depot. Since then, my in laws moved to town and my father in law has a pressure washer he let me borrow, unfortunately, it's an electric 1800 psi model and it's taking forever.
With the deck, if I go really slow and hold the nozzle close to the wood, I can see a real difference, but it is going to take forever to finish it. With the patio, it gets the paint up right where it's peeling, but a few inches in and it's hit or miss.
1) With the patio, does it matter if I get all the paint up for repainting or just the loose paint/dirt?
2) There is some nice looking brick between the patio and deck that the previous homeowner painted over and I'd like to get it completely clean. The power washer - if I spend enough time on it - is getting it mostly clean. Is there something I can add, like a cleaner, to get the paint the rest of the way off? I don't plan on repainting it.
3) With the deck, how "clean" does it need to be to restain? The wood isn't grey or anything, you can just tell the stain has faded. Will a cleaner help with that? Am I expecting to see too much change?
I can always rent a gas powered washer again, but if I can avoid that, it'd be nice. Plus, my father in law offered me this and I'd rather not tell him, "Your washer wasn't up to it."
Thanks!
Bryan
With the deck, if I go really slow and hold the nozzle close to the wood, I can see a real difference, but it is going to take forever to finish it. With the patio, it gets the paint up right where it's peeling, but a few inches in and it's hit or miss.
1) With the patio, does it matter if I get all the paint up for repainting or just the loose paint/dirt?
2) There is some nice looking brick between the patio and deck that the previous homeowner painted over and I'd like to get it completely clean. The power washer - if I spend enough time on it - is getting it mostly clean. Is there something I can add, like a cleaner, to get the paint the rest of the way off? I don't plan on repainting it.
3) With the deck, how "clean" does it need to be to restain? The wood isn't grey or anything, you can just tell the stain has faded. Will a cleaner help with that? Am I expecting to see too much change?
I can always rent a gas powered washer again, but if I can avoid that, it'd be nice. Plus, my father in law offered me this and I'd rather not tell him, "Your washer wasn't up to it."
Thanks!
Bryan