To better understand why our soft washing system is the safest way to clean your house without damaging it, we will explain the different types of house washing. Pressure washing, power washing, and soft washing.
Pressure washing
House pressure washing is not a standard way of cleaning a house in our industry. Pressure washing combines a machine and wand that produces between 3,000-4,500 psi (Pound per square inch). We refer to this as high pressure. High pressure should never be used to wash a house. Brick, vinyl, aluminum, stone, and Hardie board require much less pressure to be safely and effectively cleaned. High pressure will cause severe damage to brick, windows, shutters, vinyl, and aluminum.
Power Washing
House power washing can be used to wash a home. Power washing combines a machine and gun, tips, and appropriate orifices to create a pressure stream of 500-1,500 psi. We refer to this as medium pressure. Power washing can be used to clean a home safely. We often use power washing to downstream a house washing solution and our preferred soap to reach areas as high as 40 feet. Down streaming can be described as an injection of soap or cleaning solution into the house, allowing suction to occur below 1,000 psi. Down streaming is an alternative to house soft washing, but not roof soft washing. House power washing is an effective way to clean the exterior of your home safely.
Soft washing
House soft washing is iShine Cincy’s preferred way of cleaning a home. We use special machines and cleaning solutions/soaps that range from 60-300 psi. Our soft washing machine has a maximum pressure of 300 psi, eliminating the room for error in damaging property. Soft washing is the industry standard in cleaning homes, roofs, and many other surfaces commonly found on customers’ properties. This application can clean all home surfaces safely while reaching high areas up to 50 feet!
Now that we know about the three kinds of cleaning methods for washing a home let’s look at the areas that require soft washing and power washing. We often use a combination of both cleaning methods while washing home to get the best results.
What parts of your home should you pressure wash?
Pressure washing is our dedicated way to clean concrete driveways, patios, and sidewalks. Pressure washing is not appropriate for cleaning any parts of your home’s structure.
What parts of your home should you power wash?
As described above, power washing and soft washing are similar when it comes to cleaning a home, but both have their appropriate uses in certain places. Power washing allows us to get a stronger stream in higher places to help remove stains up to 40 feet high. Power washing is our preferred way of rinsing brick, pavers, stone, and the outsides of gutters. Often, while power washing a home, we will use multiple machines to clean certain areas to allow for the safest and best success.
What parts of your home should you soft wash?
House soft washing is our preferred method used for washing houses. Soft washing allows us to clean an entire area in roughly half the time as a power washer. Soft washing uses a cleaning solution applied and rinsed at a low-pressure setting (under 300 psi), allowing us to cover a large home area at a time. Soft washing does require a “dwell time” to allow our cleaning solution to kill off mold, algae, and dirt before being rinsed off with low/medium pressure. Soft washing is safe on all surfaces. iShine Cincy soft washes; vinyl, aluminum, stucco, Trex or composite decking, wood, Hardie board, polyvinyl fencing, asphalt shingled roofs, metal, pavers, travertine tile, and glass.
How long does house soft washing take?
Power or soft washing a home takes roughly forty-five minutes per 1,000 square feet. For example, a standard 2,000 square foot two-story home takes roughly an hour and a half to complete.
To achieve the ability to power wash an entire home in less than two hours takes professional equipment. We have multiple service trailers equipped with 500-gallon water tanks, 100-gallon soap tanks, two power washers on each trailer that can heat the water to 250 degrees, two soft washing machines, and a total of over 1,000 feet of hose on each trailer. The professional equipment, training, and experience allow us to clean homes much faster than using a homeowner / DIY pressure washer.
How often should I soft wash my home?
When power washing in Cincinnati, we often see road grime, salt build-up, power plant pollution (Middletown, Ohio), rust, mold, and algae growing on homes. The north-facing side will be the first area to grow mold or algae. Mold and algae will build upon the faces of gutters, window sills, vinyl and aluminum siding, brick, stone, and stucco. It is often recommended to our customers to wash their vinyl homes yearly and their brick homes every other year. Vinyl siding has a protective UV coating that provides an exterior layer to the siding, similar to paint on a car. This UV coating can be broken down and even damaged from mold growth.
How much does house washing cost?
The industry standard for house power washing and soft washing is anywhere between .20 and .25 cents per square foot, depending on the cleaned surfaces. The square footage of a home is found on the county auditors’ website by using the home’s address. iShine Cincy charges .25 cents per square foot. The average homeowner can expect to pay $400-$550 for house cleaning. Our house washing comes with a one-year guarantee, thus making it a great investment!
Can we clean tall homes?
Our soft washing and downstream (power washing) methods can clean up to four stories from the ground! The safety of our employees is paramount. Soft washing allows for our workers to efficiently and safely clean all areas of a home from the ground. However, we do have 16, 24, 28, 32, and 40-foot ladders for the rare occasion that we need to get on a roof or gutter line while cleaning a house.
