Soft Washing in Armada
Soft washing is a method, not a machine. The solution kills what is growing, and the water that carries it off leaves the nozzle at about the pressure of a garden hose. On painted wood, old brick and chalked aluminum, it is the only approach that cleans without costing you the surface.
Armada gives the method plenty to work on. The painted frame houses on the grid around Main St and Fulton St carry cut trim, porch columns and beadboard ceilings that no amount of pressure improves. The brick along Main St, rebuilt after the late-1800s fire, and the later brick of the Armada Free Public Library and the 1929 Old Armada High School block on Burk St all carry mortar joints that a wand opens up. Fifty-year-old aluminum on the later village houses chalks, and force takes the powder off in bands. In each case the wall needs chemistry that does the work while the water only carries it away.
Soft washing also covers the surfaces a house wash does not always include. Porch ceilings and soffits under deep overhangs hold mildew long after the walls dry, especially on the creek-side lots where the East Branch of Coon Creek keeps the ground damp. Vinyl and wood fence runs green up on their shaded face. Garage doors, storm doors and window surrounds pick up the same film. Out on the township parcels, metal barn siding, shed walls and the sheltered north face of a pole building hold a mix of algae and road dust that comes off with a mix built for metal instead of paint.
The sequence is always the same and the mix is what changes. Landscaping is wet down first, the solution goes on at low volume and is given time to kill, and the rinse follows at hose pressure from the top down. Because the growth dies at the root instead of being shaved off, a soft-washed wall holds two to three years in the shade and longer in the sun, while a rinse-only wash is green again within a season. Soft washing prices with house washing from $349, and any extra surfaces, fences, outbuildings or a second structure, are listed separately on the quote.
Mix Low, Let It Work, Rinse Soft
Every soft wash opens with a materials check, because the mix for painted wood is not the mix for brick, metal or composite, and a single elevation often carries two of them. Plants, beds and grass below the work area are soaked, and they stay wet through the dwell. The solution goes on from the ground at low volume, strong enough to kill and mild enough for the substrate, and it is left alone while the biology dies rather than being scrubbed. The rinse comes last, top to bottom, at hose pressure. Detail work, spindles, trim returns, light fixtures and window surrounds, is done by hand with a soft brush.
What Pressure Costs on Old Surfaces
On century-old brick a wand cuts the mortar joint before it touches the brick face, and the repointing bill dwarfs the wash. On painted wood it raises the grain, so the next coat of paint sits on fuzz and fails early. On chalked aluminum it leaves banding. On metal barn siding it drives water under the laps and behind the fasteners, where it sits against the framing. The failure that costs nothing up front is the rinse-only clean, which leaves living growth in the texture and buys about eight weeks.
Timing It Right
Growth is visible from April through October, and any of those months works. The earlier in the season a wall is treated, the less it has to feed on through the humid weeks of July and August. Shaded elevations near the creek are worth doing first; open walls on the township parcels can wait. Fences and outbuildings usually go on the same visit as the house, because the setup is already paid for by then.
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Soft Washing in Armada: FAQs
Does soft washing clean anything besides the siding?
Most exterior surfaces that grow something. Porch ceilings, soffits, fascia faces, garage and storm doors, fence runs, vinyl skirting, and the metal walls of barns and sheds all take the same low-pressure treatment with a mix suited to the material. It is the method behind our roof work as well, since shingles cannot take pressure at all.
Is it safe on the old brick and mortar downtown?
Yes, and it is the reason we use it there. The solution does the cleaning, so the water never has to hit hard enough to open a joint. Mortar from the late 1800s is softer than the brick around it, and any wand held close will carve it out. We keep the mix mild on masonry and rinse from a distance.
We are on a well and grow vegetables. How is that handled?
The well head gets covered and the rinse is directed away from it, and the garden is soaked before the wash starts and rinsed again after, which dilutes anything that drifts. Tell us where the beds and the well sit during the walkaround. On breezy days we shift to the sheltered elevations first and come back to the exposed side.
How soon does the green come back?
Two to three years on shaded walls, longer where the sun reaches. The difference is that the root is dead, so what returns has to start over rather than regrow from what was left behind. Walls along the creek and under heavy canopy sit at the short end, and a single elevation can be refreshed on its own in between.
More in Armada
Deeper reading: What Chemicals Do Power Washing Companies Use? and Sap, Pollen, and Tannin: What Trees Put on Your House.
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