The Tri-Cities of Tennessee, Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol, make up a beautiful part of the South. The natural beauty of our region is full of regular rains and humidity as summer makes way for fall, which can take a toll on our homes.
The Importance of Soft Washing Your Home’s Exterior
It can be challenging to keep up with cleaning your outdoor surfaces, and every type of surface requires specialized cleaning. Power washing and soft washing are two of the many methods used to clean and stop problems like mold and mildew from growing.
Soft washing is an essential tool that has its place in home improvement and has several advantages to power washing when done correctly. There are a variety of reasons why it is important to soft wash the exterior of your home. Curious about soft washing and why it is so great? Read more to find out!
What Is Soft Washing?
Soft washing is a cleaning method that utilizes low pressure along with a mixture of algaecides, bleach, surfactants, and water to clean your exterior surfaces. This combination of chemicals, along with low-pressure water, rids the surface of dirt, stains, mildew, and algae.
Because it uses low pressure, soft washing is less likely to damage surfaces such as siding and wood and doesn't leave permanent marks on harder materials such as concrete.
Soft Washing vs. Pressure Washing
With all of that in mind, both soft washing and power washing can be used in certain applications.
Soft Washing Applications
Because soft washing uses low pressure and a variety of chemicals, soft washing is preferred in situations where the surfaces do not handle high pressure well. These surfaces include:
- Cedar shake siding
- Wood panel siding
- Outdoor rooted plants
- Stucco and Coquina
- Outdoor wood furniture
- Screens, enclosures, and lanais
- Vinyl Siding
Pressure Washing Applications
Pressure washing is best used to clean surfaces such as:
- Decks
- Stone paths
- Patio Furniture
- Sidewalks
- Anything with deep grooves or cracks
As you can see, the difference between both soft washing and pressure washing is mainly focused on application. While pressure washing can be effective, soft washing is way more flexible due to its lower pressure.
Benefits of Soft Washing
Soft washing has plenty of benefits that are worth looking into when choosing a method for cleaning the exterior of your home. Soft washing is very effective at cleaning, removing damaging lichen, and keeping out nasty mold that can affect allergies.
Especially after the last several months of wet weather and high humidity, it is easy for dirt and mildew to collect around your home. Soft washing is a great way to get rid of dirt and contaminants, keeping your home looking clean.
Soft washing can mitigate the risk of damage to your landscape by using lower PSI. Because of the ECO-friendly nature of most soft washing chemicals, it also reduces damage to the environment. These reasons alone are great benefits.
In addition to improving the curb appeal of your home, soft washing will rid your exterior surfaces of biological issues such as mold, mildew, and lichen. If you want to learn why it is important to keep mold away from your home, check out our article “Outdoor Mold: Why It’s Harmful and How Pressure Washing Can Help.”
Chemicals used in soft washing not only remove the exterior mold and mildew but kill it, effectively keeping it from coming back. Soft washing can also help remove certain pests by destroying their habitats.
Do I Need to Hire a Soft Washing Contractor?
While it may seem easy enough to just go out and purchase equipment for soft washing and go to town cleaning your house, several dangers can be involved in soft washing when not professionally trained.
There are a variety of options when it comes to chemicals and equipment, as well as techniques that are used in soft washing. This is precisely why you are better off hiring a professional contractor to assist you in washing your surfaces based on their needs.
Request a Soft Washing Estimate Today
However, one thing is for certain—you must hire a qualified expert to handle your pressure washing needs. It is better to trust a contractor that has been around for a while and has a solid track record of service because there are so many things that can go wrong.
Since 1997, we at Cates Property Services and Pressure Washing Contractors have provided service to western North Carolina and northeast Tennessee. Residential, commercial, and new job soft washing are the areas of expertise of our qualified pressure washing contractors. From concrete to decks to siding and more, we can handle it all.
For more information on how you can entrust the pros with your soft washing project, get in touch with Cate's Pressure Washing today.