Whether you hire us or do it yourself, these seven rules separate great results from expensive lessons. Print this before anyone pulls a trigger on your property.
1. Wash in the right season — and time of day
Spring is ideal: pollen season’s worst is over and surfaces dry fast. Start early morning so detergents dwell without baking. Avoid washing right before a freeze or in peak afternoon sun.
2. Soak everything green first
Saturate every plant bed before soap touches the house, and rinse again after. Wet leaves absorb almost nothing — dry ones drink chemicals. This single habit prevents nearly all landscape damage.
3. Match the nozzle to the surface
White 40-degree tips for siding, green 25-degree for concrete, and never the red zero-degree tip on anything you want to keep. A rotary surface cleaner beats any wand tip on flat concrete.
4. Clean gutters before the roof and walls
Order matters: gutters first (they drip), then roof treatments, then siding top-to-bottom, then concrete last (it catches everything). Wrong order means re-washing.
5. Treat stains, don’t chase them
Oil, rust, and tannin need chemistry and dwell time, not more pressure. Chasing a rust spot with a close-range jet etches a permanent ring around a stain that treatment would have dissolved.
6. Put concrete on a schedule
Driveways every 12–24 months, shaded areas yearly. Regular light maintenance costs less per visit than biennial rescue missions — and your surface never gets dangerously slick.
7. Vet your pro like you’d vet a roofer
Ask about insurance, soft-wash training, and plant protection — then ask what pressure they’ll use on your specific surfaces. Vague answers mean vague methods. (For reference: we answer all three before you ask.)
Ready to hand the wand to someone insured? Get a free estimate — most quotes land within two hours.