General power washing of house siding

Perfectly clean look of your house isn’t only important in following local sanitary guidelines, but also in establishing and representing a proud house owner. It ensures the durability of cottages and lake houses and is an essential part of any property care and maintenance.

A general and thorough power wash isn’t required very often, usually in spring after remodeling or major construction, although a lot of construction companies already provide power washing services. In any other cases, with questions about how to properly remove all the dirt from the walls and siding and the cost of services, homeowners have to figure out on their own.

Facade cleaning methods

Our cleaning methods will depend on the type of dirt and how dirty your house is. Most often, the beautiful look of residential and commercial properties is spoiled by mineral pollutants like salts, rust, dirt streaks, but you also have to deal with organic pollutants like grime, mold, sometimes moss too. These usually form, because they can’t be naturally washed away with the rains. If you don’t wash your siding regularly, it can lead to early deterioration and poor functioning of your property. Heavy metals and gas emissions, which are concentrated near highways and major streets, also contribute to deterioration or erosion of your home.

Washing the facade of the house yourself is extremely time-consuming and troublesome: you have a very big area of work, you need to know how to power wash various types of siding, and you need special equipment and cleaning detergents suited for this job. That is why, it is best to rely on professional help.

Most often, the facades are power washed using a pressure washer, water and a special cleaning detergent. The high pressure of the jet effortlessly lifts all the gunk from the smallest crevices, and the concentrated cleaning solution washes off even the ingrained dirt without leaving any residue.

Selection of cleaning products

When selecting our cleaning products, we take into consideration what chemical compounds can be used on different surfaces. For example, granite, brick, and ceramic tiles are resistant to acids, therefore, it is acceptable to use solutions containing low acidity to clean. Houses with plastered siding can be power washed with neutral detergents only, since it is a delicate material to work with. Cleaning solutions consisting alkaline are best suited for sidings made of artificial stone.

Salts create the biggest trouble for homeowners. They form as a result of evaporation of water from the building materials themselves and solutions containing mineral impurities. And also in cases where low-quality raw materials were used in construction, or the construction itself was poorly done. The problem with salts is that they will gradually penetrate any material and begin to destroy it from inside. That way, your siding will quickly lose its structure and will require major repairs. Strong concentrated agents containing inorganic acids are used to remove these salts.

The most common method of removing contamination is sandblasting: a strong air jet containing quartz sand particles is sprayed over the surface of your siding. Due to its abrasive nature, this method refers to “hard” cleaning methods. It is used when it’s necessary to clean rusty places or to completely remove the plaster layer when preparing the house for remodeling.

An innovative technology called “soda blasting”, is a more advanced method to remove dirt from the facades. It refers to “soft” but very effective way of interaction with the dirt. This method uses compressed air jets containing sodium bicarbonate. It is a common technology that is applicable to all types of surfaces.

Prices for power washing your siding depend on the total area, the method of cleaning, and the structure of your property. In any case, professional power washing services in Chicago are much more profitable  than attempting to do it yourself.