A house wash cleans the outside walls of a home (stucco, wood or fiber-cement siding, trim and the painted surfaces around doors and windows) and it is done at low pressure. The crew backs the pressure down and changes the tip for each surface, because the force that cleans a driveway can etch stucco, lift paint and push water behind siding. Washing a house at lower pressure like this is what most people mean by a soft wash. House siding washing is part of our pressure washing service, which starts at $220.
What is the difference between pressure washing and soft washing?
Often it is not the machine. What changes is how hard the water hits. A concrete driveway or walkway can take a strong blast and come out better for it, while wood, stucco and painted surfaces scar, fuzz up or peel under the same treatment. So on the walls the crew drops the pressure, swaps the tip and lets water and time do the work that sheer force does on the flatwork.
| Surface | How it is washed | What goes wrong with too much pressure |
|---|---|---|
| Stucco | Low pressure, even passes | Etched or pitted finish, water forced into hairline cracks |
| Wood siding | Low pressure along the boards | Raised, furry grain and stripped paint |
| Fiber-cement and vinyl siding | Low pressure, washed top-down | Water driven up behind the laps |
| Painted trim, doors and eaves | Low pressure, careful around edges | Paint lifted at seams and corners |
| Concrete around the house | Full pressure | Nothing, which is why it is washed differently from the walls |
Why do Sacramento-area houses need washing at all?
Three things pile up on walls here. Summer dust is the first: it settles on every ledge, and textured stucco holds onto it like a sponge. Then come the sprinklers. A head that hits the same wall every evening leaves mineral marks and a damp strip along the bottom, the kind of thing you stop seeing after a while. The third shows up on shaded sides, especially under oaks or near water, where a green film of algae grows through the winter.
That green film is exactly what we washed off an older home near the Walnut Grove levee. The siding was too fragile for high pressure, so a gentle wash lifted the growth and left the boards underneath undamaged.
How often should a house be washed?
Shade decides most of it. On an open lot with newer stucco, every year or two is usually plenty, and you are mostly clearing dust and sprinkler marks. Shaded walls with trees close by want a wash once a year, ideally in late spring after the rains, before the green film sets in for good.
Then there is timing. About to paint or sell? A wash shortly before is worth it on its own: paint sticks better to a clean wall, and buyers notice the walls long before they notice anything inside.
Is a soft wash an eco-friendly house wash?
Lower pressure is gentler all by itself, on the house and on the plants growing against it. Our crews run the machine off your ordinary outdoor tap, and the water does not need to be hot. If you are hiring someone else, ask them two things: what, if anything, goes into the water besides water, and how the beds and plants along the walls will be handled during the wash. A company that answers both clearly has usually thought about it.
What is not part of a house wash?
- The roof. Pressure strips the protective granules off asphalt shingles, so roofs get a different method altogether, covered in roof cleaning.
- Window glass. Different equipment, different service. See window cleaning.
- Anything already loose or damaged. Cracked stucco, a lifting board or failing paint gets left alone, because water would only finish what the weather started. Point those spots out before the visit.
What does a house wash cost?
Two things set the price: how much wall there is and how weathered it is. A single-story house with clean stucco and a two-story house with a green north wall are not the same job, and they are not priced like one.
Every visit carries a $220 minimum. The washer has to be brought out, hooked to your tap and primed whether it then runs for one hour or five. (That is also the honest case for adding the driveway, walkways and patio to the same trip.) Our guide to residential pressure washing in Sacramento covers what each flat surface needs.
Do you offer house washing in Citrus Heights?
Yes. Our crews work across Sacramento, Roseville, Elk Grove, Davis, Galt, Auburn and Placerville and the neighborhoods in between, Citrus Heights very much included; we have already cleared moss there from a shaded roof without a pressure washer. The method does not change from town to town. What changes, street by street, is the shade, the trees and the age of the siding.
What should you do before booking a house wash?
Low pressure on the walls. High pressure only on concrete. No pressure at all on the roof or the glass. If your walls are shaded, book in late spring, and fold the flat surfaces into the same visit so the minimum covers more ground. Then take a photo of each side of the house and send it through the contact page; a person will reply with a starting price.