We have undertaken a comprehensive search for 5 cm OH masers in regions visible from Effelsberg with the 100-m telescope (i.e., those with declinations above -29^o^). Our sample is based on bright sources taken from the IRAS Point Source Catalog and/or from previous 18cm OH and H_ 2_O surveys. Among the 165 sources observed, 16 are new (15 exhibit emission and one source shows both absorption and emission). Two new absorption line sources have been tentatively detected. The general properties of the 5cm OH sources are presented and discussed. The 6035MHz line is more often detected than the 6031MHz line. Nevertheless, the latter line is frequently present, a fact that is not explained by present OH excitation models. Simple calculations tend to show that there are enough FIR photons to pump the 6035 and 6031MHz masers, and we found that the statistics of the ratio S_ radio_/S_ IR_ at 18, 5 and 6cm suggest that the maser pumping efficiency decreases with increasing OH excitation. Variability on short (months) or long (years) time-scales is a common feature in many 5 cm OH sources. We also present observations of the 6 GHz satellite lines and report, besides W3(OH), on two certain and perhaps two newly detected weak sources. Some implications on the excitation of OH are briefly discussed.