When it comes to hiring a pressure washing company, often homeowners just assume they need to hire someone to pressure wash the exterior surfaces of their homes with a typical pressure washer.
But did you know, that quite a bit of the exterior surfaces of your home should actually be cleaned using a soft washing process?
What is Soft Washing?
Soft washing is very similar to pressure washing in that its goal is to clean surfaces, the main difference is, like the name implies, is that it uses low pressure, and the help of chemicals to clean certain surfaces.
A pressure washing machine leverages high pressure, to remove things like algae, moss, and other organic materials from surfaces like concrete, wood, and siding.
On the other hand, soft washing leverages eco-friendly chemicals to achieve the same outcome. For example when it comes to cleaning the vinyl siding of a home you could use either of these processes. However, where soft washing outshines pressure washing is on softer surfaces.
This is because to clean something like vinyl siding, or asphalt roof shingles, when soft washing a chemical is first deployed, that starts to break up and kill off all of the organic matter growing on the surface.
Then using a soft wash gun, plain water can be sprayed to the surface, and if the right chemicals were applied, all of the organic material will be removed, leaving a freshly cleaned surface.
The advantage of this is that on softer surfaces like vinyl and shingles, high pressure could cause damage. So, opting for a soft washing company could be your best bet.
So When Should You Use Pressure Washing?
Pressure washing should generally be reserved for hard surfaces such as concrete, and brick. Those surfaces can take the high pressure that comes from a typical pressure washing machine to get them clean.
While you can soft wash these surfaces, it’s best to just use high pressure machines.
So When Should You Use Soft Washing?
Soft washing should be used on any exterior surface that could be damaged by high pressure. These surfaces include things like vinyl siding, roof shingles, fences and even decks.
The advantage of using soft washing on these types of surfaces is that not only do you mitigate the risk for damage, but you get less overspray.
What Do You Need For Soft Washing?
While you can go to any local home improvement store to buy a pressure washing machine, finding a soft washing machine is a little more difficult.
Because of the expense associated with these machines, and the commercial application generally used, in order to buy one you would typically have to either go online, or purchase one from a specialty pressure washing supply store.
Typically a good quality soft washing machine will run upwards of $3,000 or more, whereas $500 is a good starting price point for most high pressure washing machines.
On top of this, you need not only the machine, you would need to buy the hoses, the guns, and chemicals just to get started.
So as you can see owning a soft washing machine for personal use doesn’t make much sense. Most homeowners would probably just hire a soft washing company.
Can I Pressure Wash My House?
Yes, and no. We say this because while you can, maybe you shouldn’t. The first thing you need to access is what kind of material the exterior of your home is made of.
If it’s brick, or some other hard siding, you could get away with pressure washing your home without the help of a pressure washing company.
If your home had a siding of vinyl or wood, you should really contact a pressure washing company that specializes in soft washing to avoid any damage high pressure might cause.
With that being said, even if the exterior of your home is a harder surface that would require pressure washing, it’s still advised to consult with a pressure washing company first.
Because even if you can use high pressure to clean the siding of your home, you may need to take into consideration that chemicals may still need to be used, and that you want to make sure that your protect the vegetation around the home from those chemicals.
Which One Should I Choose?
The choice is up to you, while you could save some money by tackling your exterior cleaning project yourself. By hiring a good pressure washing company, not only will it save you a lot of time, but it could potentially save you money by not damaging your home, or having to buy costly equipment.
We hope this article has helped you in deciding the next time you need exterior cleaning done on your home or business.
