Service
House Washing & Soft Washing
Low-pressure soft washing that strips algae, mildew, and road film without forcing water behind your siding.
What it is
What house siding soft washing actually involves
Soft washing is not pressure washing. A pressure washer moves dirt with force — somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 PSI, enough to carve a line into cedar or blow the mortar out of a brick joint. Soft washing moves dirt with chemistry instead, applying a surfactant and sodium hypochlorite solution at roughly garden-hose pressure, letting it dwell, and rinsing it away.
That difference matters because most of what makes a house look dirty is not dirt. It is biological growth: algae colonies, mildew, lichen, and the black streaking that shows up on north-facing walls where the sun never fully dries the surface. Blasting it with pressure knocks off the visible layer and leaves the root structure behind, which is why pressure-washed homes look dirty again within months. Treating it kills the organism, so the clean actually lasts.
We use this method on brick, stucco, Hardie board and fiber cement, vinyl, painted wood, stone, and EIFS. Every surface gets a different dilution — the mix that clears heavy algae off a north-facing brick wall would be far too aggressive for painted cedar trim.
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North Texas
Why it happens here
North Texas gives exterior surfaces a specific kind of abuse. Our clay soil turns to fine red dust in July and August, and it lands on every horizontal and windward surface between here and the Red River. It does not rinse off in a rainstorm — it bonds into the texture of brick and stucco and builds a dull orange-gray film that most homeowners stop noticing because it happens so gradually.
Then there is the water. Most of the metroplex runs 8 to 12 grains per gallon of hardness, and every irrigation cycle that overshoots onto the house leaves calcium behind. Over a few seasons that becomes the chalky white banding you see along the bottom three feet of exterior walls, almost always on the side where the sprinklers sit.
Add spring oak pollen, the humidity that rolls up from the Gulf in May, and the mildew that thrives in it, and you get a house that is not damaged so much as buried. The finish underneath is usually fine. It just has not been seen in a while.
Process
How the job runs
No surprises, no upsell in the driveway. This is the same sequence every time.
- 01
Walk the property with you
Before anything gets wet, we walk the perimeter together and look at what we are dealing with — the streaking on the north wall, the hard water banding, any soft trim or failing caulk that needs to be worked around rather than through. You will know the plan before we start.
- 02
Protect the landscaping
Beds get pre-saturated with clean water so plant roots take up water instead of runoff. Sensitive plantings get tarped. Outdoor outlets, light fixtures, and any open vents get covered. This step is the one most companies skip and the one that causes almost every complaint in this industry.
- 03
Apply the soft wash solution
The mix is dialed to the surface and the severity of the growth, then applied from the bottom up to prevent streaking. It dwells long enough to kill the organism — usually eight to twelve minutes — and gets kept wet the entire time so it never dries on the surface.
- 04
Rinse from the top down
A controlled low-pressure rinse carries everything down and off the wall. We work top-down so nothing that has already been cleaned gets re-contaminated, and we keep the wand angled so water never gets driven up under lap siding or behind trim.
- 05
Detail and final rinse
Window frames, door casings, light fixtures, and the soffit line get hand-detailed. Then the beds, walkways, and driveway apron get a final rinse so there is no residue and no evidence we were there except a much cleaner house.
- 06
Walk it again together
We finish the way we started. If something is not right, we would rather fix it while the truck is still in your driveway than hear about it a week later.
Questions
House Siding Soft Washing questions
Will soft washing damage my landscaping?
Not when it is done correctly. We pre-saturate all beds with clean water before any solution is applied, tarp anything sensitive, and rinse thoroughly afterward. The risk to plants comes from concentrated solution sitting on dry roots — pre-saturating prevents that entirely. If you have a specialty planting you are worried about, point it out during the walkthrough and we will tarp it individually.
How often should a DFW home be washed?
Most homes here look best on a 12 to 18 month cycle. North-facing walls and homes with heavy tree cover trend toward the shorter end because they stay damp longer and grow algae faster. A home in full sun with good airflow can often go two years. We will tell you honestly what yours needs rather than selling you an annual plan you do not use.
Do you use bleach? Is it safe?
The active ingredient is sodium hypochlorite, the same chemistry as household bleach, diluted with water and a surfactant to the lowest concentration that will do the job. It is the industry standard for a reason: it kills the algae and mildew at the root rather than just knocking the visible layer off. It breaks down into salt and water and does not persist in your soil.
What if my siding is old or the paint is failing?
We will tell you before we start. Soft washing does not strip sound paint, but it will find paint that was already releasing. If we see chalking, bubbling, or failing caulk on the walkthrough, we will show you and adjust the approach or recommend you address it first. We would rather turn down a job than hand you a bigger problem.
Do I need to be home?
It helps for the initial walkthrough, but it is not required. If you cannot be there, we will send photos of anything we flag before we start and a full set of afters when we finish. We just need access to a working outdoor spigot and the gate code if there is one.
Often booked together
What else the same trip can cover
Most of our jobs are two or three surfaces at once. It is cheaper for you and it means the whole exterior matches instead of one clean wall next to a gray driveway.
Concrete Powerwashing
Surface-cleaner passes that leave concrete evenly clean edge to edge — no zebra stripes, no wand marks.
DetailsGutters
Removes the black tiger-striping that stays on gutters after a house wash — the detail that separates clean from finished.
DetailsFences
Gray, weathered cedar brought back to actual wood color — cleaned at a pressure that will not fur the grain.
Details
We run house siding soft washing across Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville, Keller, Roanoke, Trophy Club, Flower Mound, Fort Worth, Westlake, and Argyle.
Defend your exterior
Ready for a house that looks maintained?
Tell us what needs cleaning and we will get you a written number. Most quotes take one phone call.