I'm getting ready to paint the exterior of my house and have a coiuple
of questions:

Once I finish pressure washing the house, how long can I wait until I
finish painting it?
Do I need to paint it right away (e.g. within 2-3 days), or can I
complete the washed areas over two or three weekends? Ideally, I would
wash only the walls I have time to paint, but I'll be renting the
washer.

I'll also rent an airless sprayer and am a little unsure about how
much of a problem overspray will be and how much masking /covering up
I'll need to do to protect everything nearby. Will a plastic tarp
extending 3' from the wall be enough? When painting higher parts of
the house, how should I minimize the "drifting" of overspray?