Soft Washing vs. Pressure Washing
It’s amazing how dirty the outside of your home can get during a year. Some of the most common stains include mud or dirt, algae, mold and mildew. These stains can give any home an unkempt, messy look, regardless of whether you invest a lot of time, money and maintenance into it.
Some materials, like dirt, don’t do much harm, but algae and mildew can be harmful to both your health and your home. They produce allergens and bacteria that can affect your family, and some, like algae, can grow directly underneath vinyl or roofing and enter into your home.
As a professional power washing company in Charleston, we recommend you have your home’s exterior cleaned once every 12 months. Spring is the most common time of the year to do an extreme home cleaning, but you can do it any time throughout the year as long as the weather allows.
WHAT NEEDS PRESSURE WASHING?
All of the following surfaces need to be power washed from time to time:
• Vinyl siding
• Rock and stone
• Brick
• Concrete and asphalt
Pressure washing used to be the only way to thoroughly clean vinyl, brick and painted surfaces. Now, homeowners have another option for exterior home cleaning: soft washing.
As the names suggest, one method is a lot gentler than the other one, but there’s a little more to it than that. Let’s go over the features of each to help you determine which one is the right choice for your home.
WHAT IS SOFT WASHING?
The soft wash system uses much less power than a typical pressure washer, hence the name. The highest water pressure in a soft washing system is 500 PSI. This lighter spray is generated from a nozzle with a wider spray setting, only slightly more powerful than your backyard garden hose.
Soft washing uses a mixture of soap, bleach and water in combination to eliminate organic matter from your home, roof and other outdoor surfaces. The cleaning mixture used in a soft washing process can also include algaecides and residual inhibitors which will slow further growth of these types of organisms in the future.
Because chemicals, not water pressure, are responsible for cleaning the surfaces, no powerful water is required. This means that soft washing can be used for more fragile surfaces that might otherwise be damaged by higher pressure washing equipment.
The soft wash solution is sometimes cleaned off, but not all of the time. This just depends on the type of solution is used, if there’s plant or animal life that might be affected by the runoff, and if the solution itself is powerful enough to harm surfaces over time.
Soft washing offers the advantage of getting into cracks to kill unseen bacteria, meaning that its effects can last much longer than power washing.
WHAT IS PRESSURE WASHING?
Pressure washing has long been the standard for cleaning exterior surfaces. It is very effective and efficient, which is why a lot of home and business owners still prefer it.
This cleaning system uses water only, no chemicals, to remove stains and organisms from exterior surfaces. The use of plain water is a significant plus to home owners that don’t want to use cleaning chemicals, whether for the environment’s sake or to avoid zoning violations.
It can be used on a lot of different materials. Home owners prefer power washing for cleaning their driveway, patio, decks, sidewalks and outdoor furniture because it is fast, more efficient and cost-effective.
Pressure washing uses somewhere from 1300 to 3100 PSI water pressure with water being sprayed out of a tiny nozzle for maximum power. Both organic and inorganic materials are blasted from your home’s surface, prohibiting their growth and renewing the curb appeal of your home.
One drawback to power washing is that the water is sometimes too powerful and lead to damaging the surfaces you want to clean. Pressure washing is powerful enough to put grooves into wood and plastic, and it can get into cracks, breaking off chunks of brick or stone.
IS PRESSURE WASHING OR SOFT WASHING BETTER?
The obvious question for homeowners is, “Which one should I choose?”
Both soft washing and pressure washing are good for your home’s exterior, as well as sidewalks, driveways and more. Both cleaning systems can be performed by a professional – and truthfully, are more correctly done when left to the pros.
Soft washing is excellent for outdoor play sets, gardening equipment, roof shingles, decks, gutters, patios and painted surfaces because it is unlikely to harm wood and plastic. It’s also a safe and smart choice for vinyl siding.
It removes organisms currently present on the surface, and it stops future growth for much longer than power washing can.
A disadvantage of soft washing is that it can kill plants under the surface you’re cleaning. Remember to spray them with water before spraying the soft wash solution on your home or roof, and it probably won’t be an issue.
Pressure washing is considered the best method for difficult stains, and hard surfaces like asphalt, brick and stone. Pressure washing is the recommended choice for commercial properties. A professional pressure washing company in Charleston may use a combination of detergents and water pressure to get rid of problematic stains, but they need to tell you if they will be spraying chemicals during your consultation.
It can also be used on siding as well (and has been for several years) as long as it is done safely. Powerful water pressure can damage fragile or small pieces of the vinyl. A local service that does power washing often are going to know how to protect fragile areas, but a amateur might do a lot of harm.
Your home’s roof is off limits for power washing if you have slate, tile or asphalt shingles. The extreme pressure of the water will likely damage these materials and cause you to replace your home’s roof a lot faster than expected.
Deciding between pressure washing or soft washing is best left for a pressure washing company. Which process is right for your home? Give CSC Charleston Pressure Wash a call at 843-350-5773 and we’ll send an experienced technician over to take a look!