How to Prepare for Pressure Washing in Spokane
Ten minutes of prep the night before is all a pressure washing appointment in Spokane asks of you. Here is what to close, move, and point out, and what the crew handles once it arrives.
Or call (509) 213-1891. Tell the crew what needs cleaning and most jobs get a free estimate on that same call.
Serving Spokane, Spokane Valley, Mead, Liberty Lake, and Cheney.
What should you do before the crew arrives?
Almost all of it is a ten minute walk around the outside of the house. Nothing on this list needs a tool, a ladder, or a trip to the store.
- Close every window and exterior door. Latch them, do not just push them shut. Older Spokane homes with single-hung windows can look closed and still have a gap at the sash.
- Move what is loose. Patio furniture, grills, door mats, potted plants, garden tools, and kids toys go clear of the surface being cleaned.
- Pull the vehicles out. Cars, trailers, and boats come off the driveway and away from the wall being washed, so overspray has nowhere to land.
- Take down anything hanging. Wind chimes, flags, hanging baskets, and holiday lights catch a hose and come down the hard way.
- Check the outdoor spigot. Turn it on and make sure it runs. A dead hose bib is the single most common reason a wash stalls before it starts.
- Flag the problems. Cracked glass, loose or missing siding, torn screens, a window air conditioner, a leaking gutter seam. Say so up front and those areas get handled differently.
If you only do two things, close the windows and move the cars. Those two cover most of what goes wrong.
How do you protect windows, doors, and vents?
Water follows the path of least resistance, and on a house exterior that path is almost always a gap somebody forgot about. Latch the windows. Check the exterior doors, including the garage service door and the basement walkout that nobody uses. If a screen is already torn, pull it out rather than leaving it to catch spray.
Two things on a Spokane house deserve a specific mention. A window air conditioner is a hole in your wall with a machine in it, so point it out and it gets worked around rather than washed over. And a dryer vent with a broken flapper will happily take water, so if yours is hanging open, say so.
What about plants, pets, and outdoor furniture?
Landscaping around the work area gets pre-wet and rinsed so nothing sits on the leaves, and beds close to the wall are kept clear where possible. What helps most from your side is moving anything portable: potted plants, hanging baskets, and the herb pots on the deck rail.
Keep pets indoors while the work is happening. That is less about the cleaning solution and more about hoses across the yard, equipment running, wet ground, and an open gate. If you have a dog run or a chicken coop near the wall, mention it when you call and it gets protected before anything is turned on.
What does the crew handle, and what is on you?
The split is simple. You handle what is portable and what only you know about. Everything with a hose on it belongs to the crew.
You handle
Windows and doors closed, vehicles moved, furniture and pots pulled clear, pets inside, spigot on, and a heads-up about anything already damaged.
The crew handles
Hoses, water, cleaning solution, ladders, surface protection, pre-wetting and rinsing the landscaping, and picking the right pressure for each surface.
Nobody needs to
Rent equipment, buy solutions, move sprinkler heads, or scrub anything in advance. Pre-cleaning before a wash is wasted work.
Worth a phone call
Locked gates, alarmed side doors, a shared driveway, an HOA that wants notice, or a neighbor whose car parks tight against your wall.
Do you need to be home during the wash?
No. As long as the crew can reach a working water source and get to the surfaces being cleaned, the job runs fine with nobody there. Leave the gate unlocked, turn the spigot on, and leave a note about anything unusual.
What you do want is to be reachable. If something turns up mid-job, a soft spot in the siding, a downspout that is not attached to anything, a stain that is going to lighten rather than vanish, you get told about it rather than finding out afterward. Call (509) 213-1891 if the best number to reach you is different from the one you booked with.
How is prep different for a Spokane spring wash?
Spring is when most of this town washes, and it is the one time of year the prep list gets a little longer. After the wet stretch from November through March, expect moss on the north side, needles and cones packed into the gutters and window wells, and a winter of road grit on the lower siding.
Before a spring appointment, walk the downspouts and reseat any extension that popped loose over the winter, so rinse water runs away from the foundation instead of pooling next to it. If your sprinklers are already scheduled, shut the controller off for the day. And if you are planning to stain a deck this year, book the wash first so the boards have time to dry.
Not sure when to book? The Spokane washing calendar lays out the seasons surface by surface.
What should you read next?
Prep is the easy part. These three answer the questions that come up right after it.
What it costs
What actually moves a pressure washing price in Spokane, surface by surface, and how to get a number over the phone.
See the Spokane Cost Guide →Soft wash or pressure wash
Which method each surface on your property actually needs, and what using the wrong one does to siding, wood, and roofs.
Compare the Two Methods →Doing it yourself
Where a rented machine is genuinely fine, and where it turns a cleaning job into a repair bill.
DIY vs. Hiring a Pro →Ready to book? The house washing page walks through what happens on cleaning day, and contact has the number.
Get your free, no-obligation estimate
Call and tell the crew what needs cleaning. Straight to a local Spokane crew. No form to fill out.
Call (509) 213-1891Free estimate over the phone, straight answer Get a free estimateNo pressure, no obligationFree estimate. No obligation.
Pressure Washing Prep Questions, Answered
The practical questions Spokane homeowners ask the day before an appointment.
How long before the appointment should I prepare?
The night before is plenty. Closing windows, moving furniture, and pulling the cars out takes about ten minutes on an average Spokane lot. The only thing worth checking earlier is the outdoor spigot, because a hose bib that does not run is the one problem you cannot fix on the morning of the wash.
Do I need to move my car for a driveway cleaning?
Yes. Anything parked on the concrete has to come off it, including trailers, boats, and motorcycles. Park on the street or well clear of the wall being cleaned so nothing catches overspray. If you share a driveway with a neighbor, give them a heads-up the day before.
What happens if I forget to close a window?
Tell the crew as soon as you notice. Caught early it is a towel and a five minute delay. Caught late it is water on a sill, a wet curtain, or worse if the window sits above finished flooring. Nobody is annoyed about it, but the sooner it is said the smaller it is.
Do you need my sprinklers turned off?
Turning the controller off for the day helps, mostly so a zone does not fire while the crew is working around the beds. It is not a dealbreaker if you forget. What matters more is flagging any sprinkler head or low-voltage light sitting right up against the wall so it does not get stepped on.
Do you bring your own water or use my spigot?
An outdoor spigot on the property is the normal setup, so the one thing worth testing before the appointment is that the hose bib turns on and runs. If water access is a problem at your address, say so on the phone at (509) 213-1891 and it gets sorted before the day rather than on it.
Can pressure washing damage my window screens?
Screens that are already torn or brittle can give up under a rinse, which is why pulling the damaged ones before the crew arrives is worth the two minutes. Sound screens handle a house wash fine, because siding is cleaned with a low-pressure soft wash rather than a direct high-pressure blast.
What should I do with patio furniture and grills?
Move them well clear of the surface being cleaned, not just to the edge of it. Cushions go inside. A grill parked six feet from the wall still catches spray and drips, and moving it after the hoses are out is a lot more hassle than moving it the night before.
Do pets need to stay inside during the wash?
Keeping pets indoors is the safest call for everyone. The concern is not the cleaning solution so much as hoses running across the yard, ladders, wet surfaces, and gates that end up propped open while equipment moves in and out. Cats that bolt are the usual problem.
What should I do about a window air conditioner?
Point it out before anything starts. A window unit is an opening in the wall with a machine sitting in it, so that section gets worked around by hand rather than washed like the rest of the siding. The same goes for a broken dryer vent flapper or a bathroom fan vent hanging loose.
Is there anything the crew needs access to?
Two things: a working outdoor water spigot and a clear path to every surface on the job. That means gates unlocked, side yards passable, and no vehicle parked against the wall. If a gate has to stay locked for a dog, mention it when you call and the schedule gets built around it.