House washing — soft, not hard.

The detail

What this job actually involves

What high pressure does to stucco

Stucco is a cement render with a textured face. A pressure washer held too close blows out that texture, drives water behind the render through hairline cracks, and leaves permanent wand marks. We have been called out to fix it more than once, and the fix is a patch and repaint — far more than the wash cost.

What a soft wash actually is

Pressure comparable to a strong garden hose, carrying a cleaning solution that kills the organic growth rather than knocking it off. The solution does the work over a few minutes; the rinse is gentle. The house stays clean longer, because what caused the staining is dead rather than merely displaced.

Two things specific to the Valley

• Dust and traffic film on north- and east-facing walls, heaviest near the 405 and the 101. It is mineral, not organic, so it needs a surfactant rather than a biocide.
• North-side growth. The wall that never gets sun holds moisture; that is where the green and black appear first. Cleaning the whole house and skipping the cause means it is back in a season.

Windows, screens and plants

Screens come out and get rinsed separately — washing through a screen just pushes dirt into the mesh. Planting near the wall is wetted before and rinsed after, which is the difference between a solution being diluted harmlessly and it sitting on leaves.

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