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Accountability Pressure Washing |
Pressure Washing Siding
Accountability Pressure Washing is proud to use the
soft washing method to clean most surfaces including vinyl, brick,
stucco/dryvit, as well as painted wood and most any surface that collects
grime/dirt.
The soft washing method is not only safer than
regular pressure washing, but the process ACTUALLY cleans the surface as
opposed to just “blasting away with pressure and water”
Basic description of Soft Washing:
The soft washing process utilizes a low pressure
application method of soap on a dirty surface.
The soap is applied at roughly 60-100 psi to ensure
no potential damage to any given surface.
The soap sits dormant on the surface for 8-12
minutes, allowing time for the soap to dwell and break down all organic
materials.
The technicians then come back with 4 gallons of
water per minute (water output from a commercial grade pressure washing unit–
See GPM* below in technical description) and gently rinse the soap off of the
siding.
Soft washing ensures that the siding is properly
cleaned to the fullest extent, while eliminating the potential for damage to
any surface, plant life, pets, children or property.
This is where we are going to get a bit technical
with the description. Skip the next paragraph if you don’t want the “Bill Nye”
version of the process:
Soft washing works like this; our crew mixes a batch
of soap that contains water, a strong surfactant, and a touch of sodium
hypochlorite. Before any work starts, the crew covers all surfaces with water.
This starts the process of breaking the chemical bond between the surface to be
cleaned and the dirt attached to that given surface. The technician moves into
the trailer and places the mixed soap next to the hose reel where our
downstream injector is located. The downstream injector is attached to the hose
reel and uses suction from a large orifice tip at the end of the pressure wand
at the opposite end of the pressure hose to draw the soap from the mix bucket
and in turn apply that soap to your siding with low pressure. The downstream
injector is located where the pressure hose line is connected to the hose reel
where the line is stored. A downstream injector can be “quick connected” to
almost any pressure washing unit in order to use the soft washing method. The
science behind using a downstream injector is if you have a large orifice tip
at the end of your wand, there is more room for air to move through your
pressure hose line, creating suction in the hose line, thus drawing detergent
from the mix bucket. The soap/detergent is then applied to the siding of a
structure with around 60-100 psi. You can literally place your bare hand under
the stream coming from the pressure wand without any risk of damage. Your soap
mix is only as good as your surfactant. For the soft washing process to be
effective, the soap has to stay dormant on the siding for 8-12 min. The
surfactant we use is called “Roof Snot” and it does exactly what the name
sounds like. Soap with no stick is like a car with no wheels, it’s just not
going to work. Our technicians apply soap on two sides of the structure at a
time, starting with the back and moving towards the front. This method ensures
that the soap has enough dwell time on the surface to break down all the mold,
mildew, and other organic material living on the siding. After the detergent is
given proper time to dwell, the tech comes back with 4 Gallons Per Minute (GPM)
and rinses the siding*.
*GPM is what you pay for when
purchasing a pressure washing unit. When you go to Home Depot and look at
pressure washers, almost every unit sold in the store out puts around 2.5 GPM.
People usually relate pressure washing to PSI (Pound-Force per Square Inch),
this is a common mistake. 3000-4000 PSI is bad in 9 out of 10 situations, even
when in the hands of a professional. Pressure washing gets a bad rep due to
high output of pressure crammed into a $300 unit sold to home owners with no
real instruction. Ever see a pressure washer cause damage on a sidewalk or
patio where it looked like a child drew lines everywhere? That’s our buddy PSI
in the hands of someone who doesn't quite know what they are doing. To say this
is a common mistake would be an understatement.
Accountability Pressure Washing uses commercial equipment for one simple reason, efficiency. You can literally clean
twice as fast with 4GPM as you can with 2 GPM. This is a huge factor in what
separates our company from the other companies in the area.
Anyone can buy a pressure washer. It’s a completely
different result when you have a trained technician using the proper tool for
the job.
