House washing in Greater Vancouver
We soft wash, which means the cleaning solution does the work and the water pressure stays low. That is what gets the green film off without forcing water behind your siding.
What the job includes
- Siding soft washed from the roofline down, including the shaded north side where the growth actually lives
- Soffits, fascia and the outside face of your gutters
- Window exteriors and frames rinsed as we go
- Downspouts cleaned off
- Plants and shrubs pre-wet before we start and rinsed again after
Anything outside this gets quoted separately and shown to you before we start. We do not add line items after the fact.
Why the north wall is always the worst
Almost every house in this region has one wall that looks noticeably dirtier than the rest, and it is nearly always the one that gets the least sun.
That grey-green film is algae. It needs moisture and shade, and a north-facing wall in the Lower Mainland gives it both for most of the year. On stucco it is worse, because the texture holds water in thousands of small pockets. Left alone it darkens, spreads into the soffits, and starts to work on the sealant around your windows.
A pressure washer aimed at that wall will strip it, and will also drive water up behind the siding where it has no way to dry. That is how you end up with a mould problem inside a wall cavity. Soft washing is the reason we do not do that.
Questions we get asked
Is this going to damage my siding or stucco?
Soft washing is specifically the method that does not. We keep the pressure roughly in the range of a strong garden hose and let the cleaning solution break the growth down. High pressure on siding is what cracks stucco, dents vinyl and pushes water into places it should not go.
What do you actually spray on the house?
A diluted sodium hypochlorite solution with a surfactant, which is the standard across the trade for exterior biological growth. It is mixed down to the strength the surface needs. Plants get pre-wet before we start and rinsed after, which is what keeps the solution from concentrating on them.
How long does a house wash last?
Generally two to three years here before it needs doing again, though it depends heavily on tree cover and which way the house faces. Heavily shaded homes on the North Shore are on the shorter end of that.
Do I need to be home?
No. We need access to an outdoor tap and to the sides of the house, and we will send you the before and after photos when we are done. Plenty of our jobs happen while people are at work.
Other things we clean
Driveway & Patio Cleaning
Pavers, concrete and stone, cleaned to an even finish with the moss pulled out of the joints.
From $199Roof & Moss Removal
Moss lifts shingles and holds water against your roof. Treated, never blasted.
From $649Gutter Cleaning
Cleared out, flushed through, and the outside faces brightened.
From $229Send a photo, get a flat price.
Most quotes go out the same day. We give you one number before we start, and it is the number you pay.