The same machine that makes a driveway look new can ruin siding. The difference is pressure and distance.
Concrete tolerates 3,000 psi; a roof tolerates under 500, and the difference between them is the whole job. Rental machines at full pressure damage more Panhandle homes than storms do, and the damage usually appears months later where nobody connects it to the wash.
The pressure, surface by surface
- Concrete driveways, pavers, pool decking — full pressure, with a surface cleaner rather than a wand. A wand leaves the stripe pattern that tells everyone who did it.
- Stamped or coloured concrete — back down to soft wash. Colour is a surface layer and pressure takes it off.
- Vinyl and fibre-cement siding — soft wash. Pressure forces water behind the lap, where it has nowhere to go.
- Stucco — soft wash, and gently on anything built before about 1990. Pressure widens the hairline cracks it finds, and on the coast that lets salt reach the metal lath.
- Painted wood and historic siding — soft wash only. This is where a cleaning bill turns into a carpentry bill.
- Asphalt shingles — soft wash, always. Pressure strips the granules that shield the asphalt from ultraviolet light. See roof cleaning.
Why soft washing usually cleans better anyway
Because the black streaks and the green film are not dirt — they are living organisms with roots in the pores of the surface. High pressure cuts the visible growth back and it returns in about four months. A soft wash with the right solution and proper dwell time kills the colony, and the surface stays clean through a season.
If a company quotes one price to pressure wash everything, they have not looked at what the house is made of.
The damage you do not see for six months
Water driven behind siding or up under a shingle course does not leak that afternoon. It shows up as a stain on a ceiling the following storm season, and almost nobody traces it back to the cleaning. That delay is exactly why the wrong pressure keeps getting used.
What to ask before booking
Ask what pressure they will use on each surface, and ask what their plan is for the landscaping under the elevations they are treating. If the answer to either is vague, the answer to both is the same.
What does it cost to get it right?
Most single-family homes run $250 to $600 depending on square footage, siding type and whether the roof and driveway are included. Beachfront and multi-storey properties trend higher, because access and rinse control take longer than the washing does. A rental machine is about $80 for the weekend — and a stripped stucco elevation is several thousand to put back.
That is the whole argument, and it is an arithmetic one rather than a sales one.
More on pressure washing across the Panhandle, or ask for a free estimate.
