When it comes to cleaning the siding of a house, you generally have two options, power wash it or soft wash it. Power washing, as you may already know, is simply relying on pure force to blast away mold, dirt and whatever else happens to be on the surface.

At first, power washing may seem like a great idea, but why is it actually a terrible idea? Well, let’s start here:

1. High-Pressure Will Damage Siding Over Time.

I have seen this problem too many times to count, the siding of the house has discolored streaks in it due to the pressure. Now, it may not happen on the first pressure wash and maybe not on the second, but as the siding begins to age, you will see the damage.

This is very, very common on aluminum siding and old vinyl siding.

2. High Pressure Alone Does Not Sanitize The Surfac

Why does it matter if the surface is sanitized? When you use pressure to clean anything, what you are really doing is just removing what you can see. The problem is that the microscopic algae spores are still living on your siding, allowing them to grow back much faster

Soft washing sanitizes the surface, forcing the algae to take significantly longer to grow back.

Pressure alone also has a very difficult time removing black mold from painted surfaces, especially wood. Not to mention the damage that results from using pressure on delicate wood.

3. Power Washing is Dangerous

Let me ask you a question… Have you ever been 25ft in the air with 3,000 pounds of pressure pushing you backwards? It’s just not safe.

Sure the first story is a breeze to power wash but you certainly do not want a loved one spending hours in an unsafe situation, 25ft in the air and neither do we.

One of my favorite parts about soft washing is that it can be done mostly from the ground.

4. Power Washing Requires More Time and Water

Assuming the results we exactly the same (which they would not be), would you rather use 500 gallons of water or 80 gallons of water.

Also, would you rather hear a loud power washer in your driveway for 5 hours or 2 hours?

Power washing requires you to blast away EVERY Sq Inch of the siding. Whereas, soft washing simply requires that we get a layer of soap on the siding and then rinse it off. This saves a ton of time and water, which is important if you have a shallow well or water restrictions.

5. Soft Washing Make the Home Sparkle

I like telling people that the house will look brand new by the time we finish cleaning. And that is because it’s so TRUE! Soft wash leaves the house with a certain sparkle that cannot be achieved with high pressure.  

This is perhaps my favorite part about soft washing, the final result is something that just leaves me smiling.

Thanks for reading this article about why you should never power wash your house.

If you would like to get more information about soft washing, feel free to give us a call or click here to get a quote online.