My exterior walls are still "chalky" and I just pressure cleaned - why?

Ron's Painting

RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL • INTERIOR • EXTERIOR  • FAUX FINISHING in Southwest Florida.

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Pressure Cleaning Your Home’s Exterior

Do you have a chalky surface outside of your home that you are pressure cleaning in an effort to remove some of the chalk? If so, then you probably have several questions such as, “Do I still need to put a sealer on my home after I pressure clean?” and “Won't pressure cleaning remove enough of the chalk?”

Pressure cleaning a home when the exterior surface is chalky does remove some chalk; however, pressure washing will not remove enough of the chalk to allow the paint to adhere without applying a chalk sealer first, as you can see in this photo.

We pressure cleaned the exterior stucco wall of a building and, once it dried, we checked the surface for chalk.  As you can see, there is still a lot of chalk on the exterior stucco walls. When there is this much chalk on the exterior walls after it has been pressure cleaned, your best bet is to apply a clear chalk sealer to seal in the chalky surface.

If there is minimal chalk present, then you can apply a pigmented chalk sealer to the surface.  Many times if the chalk is very light, you can add Emulsa-Bond additive to your paint, stir it in really well, and then paint your home as usual.  This process will help the paint adhere better.

The last thing you want to do is leave the excess chalk present, paint your home, and then have issues with the paint sticking to the walls due to the chalky surface.  When painting your home, make sure you do it the right way the first time to best prevent early signs of peeling and cracking from your fresh paint job.

If you have any specific questions, remember that you can always ask the experts at Ron’s Painting!

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