Washing your house can extend the life of your roof, gutters, siding, and even your foundation. It clears away organisms that can eat at your house and makes it easier to spot wear and tear.
But when homeowners decide to wash their houses, many will rent a pressure washer. And that can be a big problem. A high-pressure spray of water can leave your house worse off than it started — inside and out.
Thankfully, there’s an affordable option: soft washing. But before we talk about it, let’s dive into some of the hazards of pressure washing your house.
- Indoor Water Damage
Pressure washers are incredibly powerful. Water blasts out of the nozzle at up to 7,500 pounds of pressure per square inch (psi). They’re great for washing driveways and patios. But most of your house is a bit more delicate.
The water from a pressure washer can get into every little crack of your house. It can spray up and under your siding or shingles and get trapped inside your walls. In some cases, it will even get into the rooms of your house and damage your belongings. All of this can lead to mold, mildew, and structural damage.
- Ruined Siding or Brickwork
The materials for your house are not made to withstand extremely high water pressure. Pressure washing can crack or dent your siding — or even knock it loose. Likewise, it can decimate mortar and bricks, especially on older houses.
Pressure washing can also leave unattractive oxidation streaks on vinyl siding. Oxidation naturally occurs on houses with vinyl siding. It’s a white, chalky substance caused by exposure to oxygen and other elements. High-pressure washing disturbs this layer. But instead of washing away oxidation, the pressure simply leaves uneven streaks across your house.
- Leaky Roof
Pressure washing your roof is like creating an artificial hail storm. You’re hitting your roof with tremendous force. The pressure can strip the protective granules from your shingles or remove the shingles entirely.
When you pressure wash your roof, you risk creating leaks that cause further damage. Unlike a hail storm, though, you won’t be able to claim the damages with your insurance company.
- Stripped Paint
Pressure washing can strip the paint off your house. Blisters and cracks in your paint only grow under the spray of a pressure washer. If you make the mistake of pressure washing a painted surface, you should be able to see the damage immediately and stop. But even minimal stripping will require you to pull out a can of paint. And sometimes, the damage can be even more severe than stripped paint.
- A Dirty House That Looks Clean
If you manage to avoid all these damages, your house may look beautiful in the end. But that beauty will be short-lived because pressure washing rarely gets to the root of the problem. It removes surface stains, but it can’t tackle the root systems on your roof and siding.
Often, these root systems are hiding in the crevices of your home. So, you blast away algae, moss, and mold, but it quickly grows back. That’s because it takes a cleaning agent to fully remove these root systems. And that’s why we recommend soft washing.
What is Soft Washing?
Soft washing uses low water pressure to cover your house with biodegradable cleaning agents. Instead of blasting away organisms, our cleansers simply kill and dissolve them. Then, we gently rinse them away.
Because our products do all the cleaning, soft washing is a far more gentle way to clean your house. You won’t have to worry about ripped-off shingles, cracked siding, or stripped paint. And because it gets to the root of the issue, soft washing can last four to six times longer than pressure washing. That means you’ll save money, too!
Get the Deepest Clean for Your Home’s Exterior
This year, give your home’s exterior the deepest clean it’s ever experienced. At O’Healy we use industry-standard cleaning products to wash away dirt and organisms without damaging your home or landscaping. Learn more about our soft wash services, and when you’re ready, we’d love to come out and give you a free in-person estimate.