Power Washing

Alright, well, there has been a large gap in my writing here. Though not as great as the writing gap implies, there has also been a large gap in my painting adventures. Those of you who are likely reading, understand many of my obstacles: small children, school year coming to a close, the many snowstorms of a Colorado springtime. I've also been editing a community newsletter most recently. These things slow a mom down. I could berate myself, and admit to great shame in the delay of my house painting, but the truth of it is it's all part of the process. Life doesn't stop just because you want to do something big. I knew that when I bit off this mouthful. You want to paint your house when you're a mom of small kids, and there's cooking, and cleaning, and laundry, and yard work? Maybe you do or don't have a job? Maybe you do or don't volunteer at the school or in other local organizations? It's going to be a time consuming ordeal any way you cut it, if you’re not paying someone else to hurry up about it.

It's not as though there has been no progress, however. So, it’s update time.

Color decided and homeowners association approved, it was time for me to take the next big step and power wash my siding. The Home Depot down the road offers a power washer rental for something like $60 for 4 hours. I did my power wash prep- moved furniture and toys away from the house and took down all of the screens from the windows- then dashed to Home Depot to squeeze the power wash in before a late day lightning storm. I opted for the least powerful washer, and I went for a big bottle of simple green cleanser to go with it. It turns out I only used the simple green on the front of the house. I didn’t notice a great deal of messy gunk coming off, so I didn’t think it made much difference. In the interest of time, I went with a simple power rinse over the shampoo and rinse. I don’t regret it yet.

The tricky part of the power washing seemed to be reaching high. Safety disclosures are sure to inform you that you should not trigger a strong propulsion device of any sort from a position off of the ground. Physics is rather tricky in this way. The equal and opposite reaction of the power washer power washing could send a person to gravity’s mercy. One thing with which you will soon become intimately familiar is my fear of heights. I, for one, was not going to risk being thrown from a ladder. My washing job will suffer? Fine with me. I’ll carry a sponge up later if it’s that bad.

Now, there are two things that I recognized as errors once I returned my power washer rental. First, I probably could have climbed on a roof for some portion of the second story and done a better job higher up without crashing off of a ladder. Second, after I returned my rental, a neighbor (and dear friend) informed me that I was a dope because she had a power washer I could have borrowed.

So, your lessons at my expense: power wash from rooftops as best as you can safely reach, and for heavens sakes talk to your neighbors about the tools they might be willing to loan you BEFORE you go wasting close to $100 at the big orange home improvement center.