What is Soft Washing?
It is important to say first that soft washing does not include any high pressure power washing. It is a very common misconception that a pressure washer only produces high pressure, this is far from the truth. High pressure power washing can cause severe damage to your home’s siding, whether it be wood or vinyl siding. We often see the results of botched attempts of siding cleaning, holes left on vinyl siding, or lines left on wood siding. This is why at Pristine ProWash, we use a soft wash process instead of the high pressure processes.
Soft Washing is also very useful when pre-washing windows before a pure water cleaning.
All roof cleanings are done with a Soft washing process as to not harm the roof.
Soft Washing Process
Soft washing utilizes detergents and low pressure to clean a house’s siding.
The first step to a soft wash is the application of our house washing detergent. This detergent, which is also an algaecide, will begin to break down stains and growth on your house’s siding while also brightening the color of the siding. This step, of our soft washing process, may need to be repeated depending on the level of growth and staining on the siding.
Oftentimes when soft washing wood siding multiple coats of our detergent will be applied because wood, being that it is more porous than vinyl, tends to have more growth and discoloration.
Once the house wash detergent has provided the desired result it will be rinsed off the siding using low pressure. Whenever one of our technicians is spraying anything at your house whether it’s the house wash detergent or water to rinse off the detergent it will always be with low pressure.
Once the detergent has been rinsed off the siding along with all excess debris, the soft wash is done. Your siding will be clean and brightened with no adverse effects such as holes on vinyl or lines on wood siding.
Soft Washing on Roofs
Soft washing is also recommended for roofs. Washing a roof with high pressure can severely damage the shingles, and as all homeowners know, a damaged roof can not only be dangerous but an expensive fix. The only way to effectively remove growth from your roof is with soft washing. This process is the recommended shingle cleaning process by the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association.
Advantages of Soft Wash
- Safe for all types of siding – vinyl, dryvit, stucco, wood, cedar, etc.
- Does not leave any marks or lines on the siding
- Safer when washing around exterior lights and electrical outlets
- Does not harm exterior window screens or seals
- Safe for all roofs – asphalt shingle, metal, cedar, TPO
