Soft Washing in Fraser

The older blocks in Fraser, the 1950s-60s ranches and bungalows between Hayes Rd and Kelly Rd, sit under mature street trees, and shade is what soft washing answers. A north wall or a gable that faces a neighbor's tree line loses direct sun for most of the day, so the brick stays damp after rain and the green film that starts along the mortar lines spreads upward over a few seasons. On the colonials toward Groesbeck Hwy the same growth shows on vinyl as a gray-green haze and, on the north side, as black mildew spots near the eaves.

The growth is alive, which is the point. Algae and mildew root into the pores of brick and the texture of vinyl, and anything that only removes what you can see leaves the root to regrow. Soft washing applies a solution that kills the organism, lets it dwell while it works, and rinses at the pressure of a garden hose. The wall comes clean because the growth is dead and lets go, not because it was scraped off, and that is why a soft-washed north wall in Fraser holds two to three years while a rinsed one greens again by the next summer.

Low pressure is also what the housing needs. Mortar joints laid in 1960 have lost some binder, brick faces that took sixty freezes can spall, and the aluminum trim on these ranches dents and streaks under force. Soft washing takes none of those risks. It is the same method we use for a full house wash, the difference being that a soft-wash visit is often a single wall or the shade side only, priced from $349 for the house and less for one elevation between full washes. Fraser is about 15 minutes from our Clinton Township shop, and the crews already run Roseville and Warren on the same days.

Where Shaded Walls Get Hurt

The first failure is force in place of chemistry: a pressure wand on a shaded brick wall shears the green off the face, scours the soft mortar and leaves the root in the pores, so the wall is green again in months with a groove in the joint. The second is the opposite, solution left too strong or too long on aluminum trim and painted wood, which dulls the finish. The third is skipping the plants, which browns the beds under the wall. The right job is a measured mix, a timed dwell and a gentle rinse.

Timing It Right

Shaded walls in Fraser can be soft washed any month without frost, because the method does not rely on sun to dry a surface. Spring, once the trees along the older blocks leaf out and the north walls stop drying, is when the growth shows and the calls come. A late-season wash in September or October carries a clean wall through the winter and into the next spring.