Understanding Soft Washing vs Pressure Washing

When you don't work in the industry, terms with different meanings can get misused. It's easy to confuse pressure washing and soft washing even though they're entirely different services.

These two tasks both indeed focus on helping to clean the exterior surfaces of your home. Aside from that, they're not terms that should be used interchangeably. Because the two processes are different, it also makes sense to learn about what they both mean. As a homeowner and a consumer, you should be educated about the jobs you need for your home.

How They're the Same & Different

Simply put, soft washing and pressure washing both help to clean the exterior of your home or commercial property. That's about where the similarities end. In fact, even the terms power wash and pressure wash have slightly different meanings. The act of power washing usually uses warmer water. Soft washing, typically used in roof cleaning and house washing, is different from pressure washing in the following ways:

• Solution-based results
• Water used only for rinsing
• Low PSI (the equivalent of a garden hose)
• Safe but effective
• Generally more eco-friendly

Pressure washing relies on the use of a concentrated, high-velocity water stream to blast away dirt, grime, and other contaminants. It can be quite effective in most exterior cleaning cases. In other scenarios, however, stubborn stains and grit may need extra scrubbing or stronger cleaning solutions to do a more thorough job. Not to mention, not all surfaces are meant to be blasted with water.

Soft washing is a better approach for areas like asphalt shingles, cedar shake siding, and aged bricks. The roof, for example, can end up damaged when using standard pressure washing because it can:

• Damage shingles
• Tear away shingles
• Knock granules off shingles
• Cause water intrusion
• Trapped water leads to mold & rot

Which Service to Schedule

The type of service you need will depend on a few factors, like the type of material or the age of the material. When in doubt, you should be able to trust your professional to tell you which service you'll need. This is something you can decide on together during your consultation. However, it's never a good idea to trust a company that uses one service across the board.

Stay away from a so-called pro who wants to use the same harsh pressure washing methods for your crumbling brick that they use for your sturdy concrete driveway. It means they haven't bothered to update their machinery or techniques, and their services could do more harm than good. At Power Clean Pro, we do what's best for the customer and their specific home cleaning needs. Call us today for professional Jamestown pressure washing or soft washing services.