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House Washing That Lets the Solution Do the Work
Siding washed at low pressure with a cleaning solution doing the work, so the green on the north wall comes off without water getting driven up behind the laps.
The green film on the north side of a house is alive. It's algae and mildew, and it grows there because that wall never sees direct sun and stays damp for hours after every rain or heavy dew. On vinyl it shows up as a green haze that starts at the bottom courses and climbs. On painted clapboard it reads as gray or black specks that people usually take for dirt. Blasting it with a narrow tip takes off what you can see and leaves the roots in the texture of the siding, so it's back within a few months. What actually clears it is a cleaning solution put on at low pressure, given a few minutes to work, and rinsed off with plenty of water. That is what soft washing means. The pressure at the wall is closer to a garden hose than to a pressure washer, and the solution kills the growth down in the grain of the siding.
Low pressure protects the house, too. Vinyl siding hangs in overlapping laps with weep holes along the bottom edge, and a stream aimed upward pushes water behind those laps, where it soaks the sheathing and runs down inside the wall. Wood clapboard can be scarred or furred by a tight spray, and a paint film that is already chalking or losing its grip will peel off in strips under real pressure. So the solution goes on from the bottom up, which keeps it from running in streaks down dry siding, and the rinse comes off from the top down with the spray angled down across the laps. We keep clear of window seals, dryer vents, soffit vents and the gap above a door. On a house built before 1978 we ask about lead before washing painted siding, because pressure strong enough to strip paint would scatter old chips across the lawn and the beds. Soft washing cleans the surface and leaves the coating on the wall, and if the wash shows us paint that is already failing, you hear about it the same day.
What the visit covers
- Walk every wall first and mark the growth, the chalk and any loose paint
- Soak shrubs and beds with plain water before the solution goes on
- Cover outlets, light fixtures, doorbells and exterior electrical boxes
- Close the windows and keep the spray off vents, seals and weep holes
- Apply the cleaning solution at low pressure from the bottom up
- Give it enough time to kill the mildew and algae, not just lighten them
- Rinse from the top down with the spray angled down across the laps
- Brush the heavy spots by hand instead of turning up the pressure
- Rinse the plants a second time once the last wall is done
- Flag any peeling paint, rot or open caulk the wash turned up
Pollen, cold weather and what a clean wall shows
When you wash matters almost as much as how. Oak and pine drop their pollen through May and into June, and a house washed in the middle of that has a yellow coat on it again within a week. Wash once the heavy pollen is down and the house stays clean through the summer and well into the fall. The other end of the calendar is the cold. The solution and the rinse both need a wall above freezing, and water left behind a lap or in a crack on a cold night turns to ice. Once overnight lows start dropping below freezing, usually from late November until March, we only wash on days that stay comfortably above it, and we finish early enough for the walls to dry before dark. In the coldest weeks that can mean no house washing at all, and we'll tell you that plainly instead of putting water on a wall that is about to freeze.
A clean wall also tells you the truth about the house. Mildew and grime hide a lot. Once the siding is washed you can see where paint is lifting, where a clapboard has split, where caulk has pulled away from a window casing, and whether the gray on a wood wall was dirt or bare wood that has been weathering for years. If the house is due for paint, the wash is the first step of that job, and our painters let the wood dry out before any scraping starts. If it isn't due, a wash every couple of years keeps the growth from getting established, and a north wall washed before it turns green takes less time and less solution than one that has been left to go dark. We are licensed and insured, and the walkthrough to price the wash costs you nothing.
About house washing
If your question is not here, call and ask. We would rather tell you a smaller job is enough than sell you a bigger one.
Will the cleaning solution hurt my plants?
It can if nobody takes care, so we take care. Beds and shrubs along the foundation get soaked with plain water before any solution goes on, which keeps them from absorbing much of it, and they get rinsed again once the wall above them is finished. Delicate plants or anything newly planted can be covered with a tarp while we work that side. Tell us at the walkthrough which plants you care about most, and we'll plan the order of the walls around them.
Do you wash roofs too?
No. The black streaks on a lot of asphalt roofs around here are a type of algae, and cleaning a roof safely is its own specialty, with its own access and its own risks. Our washing stays on siding, trim, walks, driveways, patios, decks, fences and commercial flatwork. If the roof is part of what bothers you, we'll say so honestly, and that part is a job for a roofing specialist.
How often does a house need washing?
Mostly it depends on shade. A house in open sun with good airflow can go several years and still look fine. A house tucked into the trees, or one with a north wall facing a wooded lot, can go green in a year or two. Look at the bottom courses on the shady side, down low where splashback and damp hang around longest. When that band starts to turn, the wash is due, and catching it there costs less than waiting until the whole wall has gone dark.
One price for house washing, agreed before anyone starts.
Half an hour at the property, at no charge, and you walk away holding the room by room list and one number.