Soon this view will be a thing of the past.  I just finished pressure washing the back of the house in preperation for painting it.  Everyone says the key to a good paint job is in the prep-work.  The asbestos cement shingles on our house take paint extremely well, all thats requried for them is a good cleaning to remove and dirt, or mildew.  Pressure washing is the easiest way to do this, and despite the washer doing most of the work its still rather tiring.  Holding the want an arms length away on top of the ladder, with the wand pushing back at you wears you out pretty quickly.  It seems to work well though as the old paint looks better now than it did before.