Homes and businesses require exterior attention to prevent them from becoming discolored or deteriorating over time. Lichen, algae, bacteria, and grime can all build up, affecting a property’s curb appeal and value. Softwashing is a smart way to treat home and business exteriors in Texas due to the high levels of UV sunlight and the effects of storms. Find out more about soft washing in Texas.
Key Takeaways: Soft Washing Home Exteriors in Texas
- Soft washing uses a bleach-based chemical to kill contaminants on home exteriors.
- Pressure washing can be effective, but it can also cause expensive surface damage.
- Many people in Houston, Texas, choose a combination of soft wash and power wash.
What is Soft Washing?
Pristine property exteriors don’t happen by accident; without treatment, the exterior of a home or business gets contaminated by dirt, grime, mold, algae, and bacteria, affecting the curb appeal and your local reputation. There are two cleaning options – pressure washing and soft washing.
Most people consider pressure washing first; after all, it’s faster and more efficient. The downside is the damage it causes to the exteriors, along with wasted water. Soft washing uses chemicals instead of pressure to clean surfaces – there are many reasons to use soft washing.
Soft Washing Vs Pressure Washing
It’s easy to forget about exterior property maintenance, especially on new properties. Still, eventually, you will start to notice the effects of bacteria and algae on the exterior surfaces in the form of discoloration. Bacteria growth can degrade the roof shingles affecting their lifespan, and mold can be a health hazard. Soft washing and pressure washing are common solutions.
Soft Washing
Pressure washing is simple, it uses a jet of high-pressure water to remove dirt, grime, and algae from roofs, walls, and slabs, but there are some downsides, such as wastewater and surface damage. Soft washing applies bleach-based chemicals like Ecolink to the exterior surface killing the algae or contaminants. The treatment causes them to fall off over time without any damage.
Pressure Washing
Most people have a pressure washer in the home, which offers excellent utility, especially when cleaning driveways and patios. There is a tendency to pick up and use the power washer for exterior walls and roofs, but this can lead to damage. It’s important to consider the surface carefully before using a pressure washer since shingles can come loose and paint is stripped.
How Often to Soft wash a Home in Texas?
Soft washing is an excellent choice for exterior cleaning. Although it doesn’t have the instant results you can expect from pressure washing, it does provide amazing long-term benefits while protecting your roof shingles and paintwork from inconvenient and costly property damage.
The frequency of soft washing depends on the surface materials. For instance, painted wood requires more frequent treatments than aluminum or vinyl cladding. Treating wood surfaces annually protects the porous material and paint; other materials are treated every few years.
What are the Best Seasons to Soft wash a Home in Texas?
The best season to soft wash a home depends on a range of factors including the local environment and the surface materials – where your home is located, near trees or a road, for instance, can also affect contamination. In Houston, Texas, we have sun, storms, and roads.
Generally, there are two ways to know when to soft wash your property – when it is visibly contaminated or to avoid visible contamination. While there are no hard-and-fast rules for soft washing, it’s best to avoid chemical treatments in the rain when it can be washed away.
Surface Considerations for Softwashing
When it comes to treating a property’s exterior, there are three options: power washing, soft washing, and a combination of both. Power washing makes sense if you need a short-term solution, but the surface conditions need to be right as well. Softwashing is a safer and smarter option for more delicate parts of your home or business. It is also far easier and less wasteful.
Material
In an average year, Houston, Texas, has around 204 days of sunshine, with the highest percentage (68%) in July and the lowest percentage (44%) in January. These high levels of UV can cause paint to fade and wood to bleach. Soft washing roofs also improves energy efficiency.
If you have loose shingles on your roof or painted wood cladding, soft washing is the smartest way to clean your home exterior and protect it from the elements. Pressure washing these surfaces will strip the paint, increasing your workload, or cause extensive damage to the roof.
Condition
Surfaces such as aluminum, metal, and asphalt-covered shingles can withstand the power of a pressure washer for short-term results, but if the material is fragile or weathered, soft washing is the smart option. Soft washing removes bacteria or algae softly; protecting the surface integrity.
Intention
When choosing to pressure wash your home exterior, consider the purpose of the treatment. Some people notice contamination of the building’s exterior and want to clean it up to improve the curb appeal or the property value. And businesses are interested in their local reputations.
If the exterior of a business requires cleaning and the material is resilient, it might make sense to use a pressure washer. The same is true if you are preparing a surface for paint or stain. That said, any exterior cleaning project can also benefit from a soft wash chemical treatment as well.
Plants and Bushes
Does your home in Houston, Texas, have a garden area, tree line, or proximity to a road? Hanging baskets, pot plants, or bushes close to the property also influence how frequently soft washing is needed. Lichen, algae, and bacteria are more likely to develop in these conditions. Soft washing is smarter in these spaces since it protects the surfaces in the short term and the long term.
Soft Washing Service in Texas
If you have a pressure washer in your home in Houston, Texas, you can use the same equipment for soft washing – simply change the settings and fill it up with the soft washing chemicals. If you hire a professional service such as Pressure Washing America, LLC in Houston, you enjoy guaranteed results thanks to their expertise and equipment. A professional service can also use a combination of methods.