Pressure Washing and Soft washing are both exterior surface cleaning methods, but they both have differences in their methods. In this post, we’ll look at the difference between both methods.
Understanding the difference between these two methods will help you in determining the right professional to handle your home’s exterior surface cleaning. Nevertheless, if you decide to do it yourself, the difference between them tells you which to use on a particular surface.
Keeping the exterior of your home clean is extremely crucial. Not only does it make your home look attractive, but it also keeps it clean and healthy by eliminating dirt, grime, mildew, mold, and fungus. Therefore, whenever you choose to get your home exterior cleaned, you will have to choose to either pressure washed or soft washed.
Differences Between Pressure Washing and Soft Washing
Pressure washing and soft washing are both useful and effective approaches to clean your home’s exterior. Meanwhile, they achieve that in different ways.
Pressure washing makes use of extremely pressurized water to blast away any dirt or grime from the surface on which it is applied. This surface cleaning method is very effective, but it poses some risk of damage to your property’s exterior.
On the other hand, soft washing doesn’t apply much of that pressurization; instead, it relies on the effectiveness of chemicals. These chemicals are safe for your home, as well as your environment.
Whether you decide to apply pressure washing or soft washing will depend on the part of your property you want to have washed.
When to Choose Pressure Washing
Pressure washing makes use of a baton that projects water at 2,500 pounds per square inch or more. Although this level of water pressure is very effective for removing substances from surfaces, there is a chance that it could damage some softer surfaces of your home’s interior. It is likely to damage shingles, remove wood paintings, disturb your siding, or destroy window screens.
Here are some of the surfaces best for pressure washing:
- Paved patios
- Stone, Brick, and other durable surfaces
- Concrete driveways, sidewalks, and walkways.
When to Choose Soft Washing
In soft washing, the water expelled from the wand doesn’t go over 1,000 pounds per square inch, which is less than half of the PSI used for pressure washing. Instead of relying on high-pressured water to clean your house, soft washing uses formulated solutions and time to clean your surfaces. These solutions or detergents help keep the surface clean and free from bacteria for a more extended period than pressure washing.
Here are some of the surfaces best for soft washing:
- Wood panel siding
- Cedar shake
- Stucco and coquina
- Screens, lanais, and screened enclosures.
Conclusion
The difference between pressure washing and soft washing is enough to help you understand when and where best to use either of them. They are both useful to keep the exterior of your home clean, but you should be mindful of where you choose to apply either of them. If you still have some doubts about which method to use on a particular surface, you should hire a professional to get the job done then to give lasting damage to your property.
Contact us today at Alvarez Power Washing for a free quote! (973-651-8225)