Soft Washing in Washington Township

Soft washing means the water never leaves the wand harder than a garden hose delivers it, and the cleaning is done by a solution that kills what is growing. On the wooded, rolling ground toward Stony Creek Metropark that matters because the growth is alive. Mature oaks and maples shade the north and east walls until afternoon, the creek-side and pond-side lots hold morning humidity longest, and algae, mildew and, in the deepest shade, lichen root into the vinyl texture and the paint. Shearing the surface off with pressure leaves the root, and the wall is green again by fall. That is the wall an owner near Stony Creek Lake washes every summer and never wins.

The second reason is the age of some of these houses. The Washington, Mount Vernon and Clifton Mills hamlets and the Romeo village edge inside the township carry 1800s farmhouses with original wood siding and trim. The Octagon House, built between 1858 and 1860, is the landmark, but the same boards are on ordinary houses along 28 Mile Rd and Mt. Vernon Rd. Wood that has stayed sound for a century and a half stays sound by staying dry, and a mild solution with a rain-strength rinse is the only cleaning that respects that.

The trees add their own deposits: sap under the conifers and maples, a pollen film through June, and brown tannin ribbons where leaves steep in a packed gutter and run down the wall. Each lifts with a different chemistry and none with pressure. Pollen is the easiest and the most mistimed; a wall washed mid-drop is yellow again in days, so we schedule around it. Soft washing prices as a house wash, from $349, and Washington Township is about 22 minutes from our Clinton Township shop, with no travel charge for the acreage lots at the end of a long drive.

Where Pressure Ruins the Wall

Pressure on a shaded vinyl wall shears the green off the surface and drives water behind the laps, and because the roots stay, the algae is back in a season with a wand-stripe pattern that shows in low light. Pressure on 1800s wood lifts paint that was holding, raises the grain and pushes water into boards that have been dry since the 1860s. Scraping cured sap gouges vinyl and takes the paint with the spot. And a strong solution on old wood without enough rinse leaves a bleached patch that never matches the rest of the wall.

Timing It Right

April through October, and the best window is right after the pollen drop ends in June, because a wash done during the drop wears a yellow film within days. Shaded walls near Stony Creek Metropark run a two-year cycle; open walls along Van Dyke and toward Romeo run three. Late summer is the quietest time to book, and a fall wash still holds through winter as long as the nights stay above freezing while the solution dwells.