House Washing
We wash the whole outside of houses in Florence and across the Shoals: siding, brick, trim, soffits, fascia, porch ceilings, shutters and the front door surround. The green on the north wall, the yellow pollen film from spring and the orange clay splash along the bottom all come off in one visit, at a pressure that suits what your house is built from.
Most people call when the house starts to look a shade darker than it did when they bought it. That darkening is rarely dirt alone. It is a mix of algae, mildew, pollen and road dust that the damp river air holds against the walls, and it keeps spreading until something actually kills it. A rinse with a garden hose moves the top layer around. A proper house wash removes it and slows how fast it comes back.
What the wash covers
A standard house wash runs from the roofline down. Soffits and fascia first, since that is where spiders and wasps build and where mildew hides under the overhang. Then the siding or brick on every side, the window frames and sills, the shutters, the porch posts and ceiling, the front steps and the exterior doors. Light fixtures and the house numbers get wiped down by hand.
Gutter faces get a pass with the same mix, which takes off most of the grime, though the heavy black stripes need their own treatment. Screens stay on unless they are so loaded with pollen that we pull them and rinse them flat. Windows get rinsed with clean water at the end so they dry without a film, but this is not a window cleaning service and we will say so if that is what the glass really needs.
If the porch has old stucco or painted beadboard, or the back of the house has a screened room you want gentle treatment on, how we clean screened porches and stucco covers that in more depth. And if you notice dark streaks running down the shingles above the gutters, those are algae too and can be done the same day.
Vinyl and brick get different treatment
The Shoals has two kinds of house more than any other. There are the brick ranches built in the 1950s through the 1970s around Florence, Sheffield and Muscle Shoals, and there are the vinyl-sided homes in the newer subdivisions out toward Killen and north of town. They clean differently.
Vinyl is thin and lapped, with gaps along the bottom of each panel. Hit it with a narrow tip at close range and water goes straight up behind it, where it soaks the house wrap and can sit for days. So vinyl gets a soft wash: a cleaning mix applied at low pressure, a few minutes of dwell time while it breaks down the algae, and a gentle rinse from top to bottom. The panels come out evenly clean with no streaks where the wand paused.
Brick is tougher but not indestructible. Older brick, especially the softer, sandier kind on some mid-century houses, can lose its face if you blast it, and the mortar joints wear faster than the brick around them. We use a different mix on brick, give it longer to work into the texture, and keep the pressure moderate. Painted brick gets treated like painted wood, because the paint is the thing you are protecting. Fiber cement siding falls closer to vinyl in how we handle it.
The north side problem
Walk around almost any house in Florence and the north wall will look worse than the rest. It is the side that sits in shade most of the day, so the dew and the river humidity linger on it until late morning. Algae and mildew need exactly that: moisture that stays put. The green usually starts low, near the shrubs where air barely moves, and creeps up toward the eaves over a couple of seasons.
Trees make it worse. A big oak or a row of magnolias along the property line can keep a wall shaded and damp all year. You can usually find the same green on the north side of the fence, the shady corner of the driveway and the back of the air conditioning unit.
The fix is not more pressure on that wall. It is the right mix and enough dwell time to kill the growth down in the texture, so it does not bounce back in a few months. We also point out anything that keeps that wall wet, like a sprinkler head aimed at the siding or a downspout dumping against the foundation, because a wash only holds as long as the wall gets a chance to dry.
Timing it around pollen season
Pollen season in the Shoals runs hard from March into May. Pine, oak and everything else puts out enough of that yellow dust to coat porch rails, screens and window sills in a few days. Wash the house in early March and it may look dusty again by April.
That is why a lot of folks book their house wash for late May or early June, once the pollen has mostly dropped. The house stays clean through the summer, and the algae that got a head start during the damp spring gets knocked back before the hottest, stickiest months. Fall is the other good window, after the heat breaks and before the leaves come down.
If you are selling, hosting a wedding in the backyard or just tired of looking at the porch, any time works. Spring fills up fast, so asking early helps.
What a house wash costs
Price comes down to the size of the house, how many stories it has, what it is built from and how heavy the growth is. A single-story brick ranch with mild green on one side is a very different job from a two-story vinyl home on a wooded lot with every wall gone dark. Every job is priced in writing before we start, by the surface and its size, from a photo or a quick walk-around. A couple of photos of the worst sides is usually all we need.
Adding gutters, the driveway or the roof to the same visit usually costs less than booking them separately, because the setup is already done and we are already there. We will list each item on the quote so you can drop anything you want to hold off on. We work Monday through Saturday, 7am to 6pm, and answer quote requests the same day.
Red clay staining along the bottom course is included in a normal wash. Very old, set-in clay stains on light vinyl can take an extra treatment, and we will tell you up front if we think yours will.
Related
Soft Washing
Low pressure, the right mix and enough dwell time to do the work.
Roof Cleaning
No high pressure on shingles, plants and gutters protected throughout.
Gutter Cleaning
Gutter cleaning in Florence, AL: leaves, oak tassels and pine straw cleared, downspouts flushed, and black tiger stripes brightened off the gutter faces in the same visit.
Power Washing in Killen
We soft wash siding, clean concrete and bring grey decks and docks back.
Questions we get
Is it better to soft wash or pressure wash vinyl siding?
Soft wash. High pressure can push water up behind vinyl panels and leave streaks where the wand lingered. A low-pressure wash with the right cleaning mix kills the algae and mildew and rinses off evenly.
How much should it cost to get my house washed?
It depends on the size of the house, the number of stories, the siding or brick, and how much growth is on it. We quote from photos and put the price in writing before we start, so you know the number before anyone shows up.
Will the cleaning mix hurt my plants?
We soak the beds with plain water before and after the wash so the mix cannot settle into the soil or leaves, and we cover delicate plants when they sit right against the wall.
Do I need to be home?
No. We need access to outdoor water, unlocked gates and the windows closed. Most people leave us to it and come home to a clean house.
How long does a house wash last?
In Florence's humidity, the shady sides usually start to show some green again after a year or two, faster under heavy trees. Most houses do well on a yearly or every-other-year wash.
Ready when you are
Snap a photo of the north side of the house and one of the front, tell us roughly how big the place is, and send it through the form. You will get a written price back with the method for each surface spelled out. If you are on the Sheffield side of the river or out in Killen, same deal. Hit Get FREE Quote Today and we will take it from there.