Over the years, pressure washing has been the preferable choice to having the atmospheric debris removed from the exterior of your home. However, over the past few years, many pressure washing companies have started to adopt another method for cleaning exterior surfaces – soft washing. Let’s discuss the Benefits of Having a Low Pressure Soft Wash for Your Home.
But why? Pressure washing has always gotten the job done, so why the need for a new lower pressure method? While pressure washing, or spraying exteriors will a highly pressurized water, is effective, it can be somewhat inefficient as the technician and their sprayer have to be relatively close to the home. This isn’t a problem for single story houses, but what of two-story or higher buildings. In order to get the same effects, the technician may need to get up on a ladder or scaffolding to get the job done right. Even then, sometimes there are stains on the house from its exposure to weather that water alone won’t remove or the pressure that would be needed would damage the building materials. For these times, soft washing is the best and most effective alternative.
What is Soft Washing?
Soft washing is pretty close to what its name suggests. Instead of using a high pressure stream of just water, the technician uses a much lower pressure stream of water mixed with Sodium Hypochlorite (bleach). Bleach is kind of a scary word to many, but the same solution that a technician uses on your house is the same thing used to treat drinking water from city facilities or to disinfect your swimming pool. Essentially the mixture is just a touch stronger than the solution in your standard pool water, mixed with a foaming agent to help it cling and clean effectively.
When applied to a home, the mixture dissolves and kills mold, mildew, and algae as well as helping dirt and anything else clinging on your home be washed away easier. Once applied, the mixture is then washed away from your house, taking every atmospheric contaminant away with it. It can be done all from ground level and much faster than a higher pressure wash.
The primary use for soft washing is typically on roofs because it is much more effective than higher pressure methods, but it can be used on every surface of your exterior to great effect. Furthermore, because it uses low pressure, the likelihood of damaging any exterior surfaces is much lower than a high pressure wash. This can be the best path to take for easily damaged exteriors such as stucco.
While high pressure washing still has its uses, particularly for cleaning porous surfaces like concrete, soft washing should be something to consider if your exterior isn’t looking as great as it once was. If you want a pressure wash for your home or business, contact us today.