Exterior Cleaning Services in Avon Lake, OH

Why It Is Done This Way

Matching the method to the surface

Almost every piece of exterior damage we get called to look at was caused by a pressure washer pointed at something that could not take it. The tool is not the problem. Using one setting for a concrete driveway, a shingle roof, a cedar deck, and a paver patio is the problem, because those four surfaces respond to pressure in four completely different ways.

• Concrete. The one surface that genuinely wants pressure, and even there the tool matters. A hand wand cleans in overlapping arcs at varying distance, which is why wand-cleaned driveways come out striped. A rotary surface cleaner holds one distance across the whole slab and produces an even finish.
• Roofs and siding. The opposite end. Asphalt shingles are covered in ceramic granules that provide their UV protection, and pressure strips them off, shortening the roof's life and potentially voiding its warranty. Vinyl and aluminum siding overlap by design, and pressurized water finds those seams and gets into the wall behind them. Both get soft washed instead, which also lasts longer, because killing organic growth at the root sets the regrowth clock back to zero rather than leaving the roots in place.
• Wood and pavers. Each fails in its own way. Softwood decking has hard and soft grain in the same board, and high pressure erodes the soft grain first, leaving boards furry and splintering and rougher than before they were cleaned. Pavers hold together because sand is packed into the joints between them, and pressure blows that sand out, after which the pavers begin to shift and settle unevenly.

None of this is complicated, but it does require deciding what the surface is before turning the machine on. That decision is most of the job.