A pressure washer cleans by force. Hold the tip close to a painted board and it will take off the dirt, the chalky top layer of paint, and sometimes a strip of good paint along with them. Aim it up at vinyl and the water slips behind the laps, where it sits against the sheathing with nowhere to drain. That is the damage people picture when they hear the word pressure, and they are right to be wary of it.

Soft washing turns the job around. We put a cleaning solution on the wall at roughly garden hose pressure, mixed for what is actually there: green algae, black mildew, spider webbing, or plain road film. The solution sits long enough to break the growth loose, and then a gentle rinse carries it away from the top down. Nothing gets blasted. Nothing gets forced behind the siding.

This is how we wash most house exteriors in Greenwood, because most of what grows on a wall here is alive and rooted in the texture of the paint. Kill it at the root and the wall stays clean longer than one scrubbed by force. The whole method, start to finish, is laid out on our soft washing service page.

Walk around almost any house in this corner of Caddo Parish and one wall will look worse than the others. It is the side that sits in shade most of the day, usually under the pines or a big oak. Sun is what dries a wall after rain and morning dew. A wall that never fully dries hands algae and mildew exactly what they need, and the humid air here keeps that wall damp for most of the year.

Then the trees add food. Pine needles and pollen drift onto the siding and settle in the laps, and the growth feeds on that layer. At first it shows as a faint gray haze. A season later it reads green, and on painted wood it can turn nearly black along the bottom edge of each board.

We treat that shaded face with a stronger mix and a longer dwell than the sunny side gets.

A house is rarely dirty in one even coat, so we do not clean it like one.

Tell us which wall bothers you most when you call, and that is the one we will walk first.

There is not much you need to do. Close the windows on the sides we are washing, and if a window seal already leaks in a hard rain, tell us, since you know the house better than we do. Move cars that are parked tight against the wall. Bring patio cushions, doormats and the kids’ toys inside or out into the yard.

If you have dogs or cats that go outside, keep them in until the rinse is finished and the beds have been watered down. Unlock any side gates so we can reach the back without knocking on the door.

Timing matters more than most people expect. Spring pollen comes down hard under the pines, and washing a house a week before it falls means paying to do it twice. Spring and early fall are the best windows for most homes. A wash after the heaviest pollen drop holds up longest, and an early fall visit strips off what grew over the summer.