Soft Washing in Ray Township

Everything that turns a wall green here is living. Algae spreads as a film on the shaded side, mildew follows into the texture, and both need only moisture and a surface to hold. Over open ground a wall dries within an hour of rain and growth never takes. In the woodlots, along the fence-line hedgerows, and back in the timber where the North Branch of the Clinton River runs through Wolcott Mill Metropark, north and east walls stay damp until mid-morning, and those are the walls that come back green every year. Houses out toward Davis and along Indian Trail show the same pattern wherever a stand of trees sits close to the house.

Soft washing answers with chemistry instead of force. The solution goes on at the pressure a garden hose delivers, sits long enough to kill the colony down into the pores, and is then rinsed away. Pressure does the opposite. It shears off the visible layer and leaves the roots, which is why a rinsed wall looks right in June and reads green again by September. The method also suits what this township is built from. Painted wood on a farmhouse, brick, vinyl on a newer acreage home and metal siding on a pole barn all take a soft wash at the correct mix, and none of them take a wand held close.

Where the water ends up matters more on a well and septic property. Beds and vegetable gardens are soaked before the solution goes on and rinsed again after, so nothing sits on a leaf and concentrates as it dries. Application stays off the well head, and runoff is kept from ponding over a drain field. Results hold two to three years on a shaded wall and longer in afternoon sun. A soft wash starts at $349, the same as any house wash, since it is the method we use on siding from here to Washington Township and New Haven.

Rinsed Is Not Washed

The common failure is not damage. It is a wall rinsed rather than treated, which looks clean while it dries and grows back from the roots inside one season. The damaging version is a wand at close range on painted farmhouse wood, where it lifts paint at the lap edges and drives water into the boards behind. On chalked aluminum that same pressure carves a bright stripe beside a dull one. Solution left to dry on glass or trim leaves a film of its own, which is why the rinse matters as much as the mix.

Timing It Right

April through October. Spring is the best moment to catch growth that spent a damp winter getting established, because it is still shallow then, so the wash goes faster and the result lasts longer. Late summer suits a wall due to be repainted in fall, since paint needs a clean, killed surface to bond to. The solution wants air above 40 degrees to work properly, and that sets both ends of the season.