Soft Washing vs Pressure Washing: What’s The Difference?

Cleaning the exterior of your home can be a daunting task and an entirely different animal than the interior cleaning most of us are familiar with. The tidiest behaviors and best habits still won’t keep the exterior of your home totally clean from mildew, dirt stains, mold, bacteria, algae, and various other types of filth that inevitably build up over time without consistent maintenance. In Spring Hill or Thompson’s Station, it can get humid and muggy, especially in the summer — which is the perfect ecosystem for algae and mold growth and reproduction. It grows everywhere especially in areas deprived of sun. Our town is constantly growing. New homes and developments popping up all the time kicking up dirt and dust carried by the wind layering the exterior of your home. 

Unlike the easier to clean areas of the interior of your home, the exterior of your home presents challenges for a DIYer. How can I reach the peak of my 2 story home, those corners of my chimney area, or the vynl over my garage? Which cleaning agent should I buy? Can I use it on my house, aggregate, and concrete surfaces? How much water pressure should I use on all my surfaces?

So, what do you do?

You call a professional pressure washing company to safely clean the exterior of your home. Key questions to ask when considering companies to hire. Will your company use a Gentle Soft Wash technique to get the whole job done or a High Pressure Wash (aka Power Wash)? Will cleaning detergents be used? 

-Soft Washing is geared toward providing a low psi soft wash to surfaces that require a good cleaning with a gentle application.

– Power Washing is geared towards providing a high psi pressure wash to more durable surfaces with trouble areas like driveways, sidewalks, walkways, or any other concrete surfaces.

There are pros and cons to each method so let’s go over the best and worst parts of each and discover why you might use one method over the other in any given situation.

Soft Wash: Pros and Cons

The Soft Wash Approach relies on a safe but effective chemical utilization in tandem to make certain algae, mold, mildew, dirt, and grime is removed. For some areas, a Soft Wash is necessary to prevent damage: you certainly don’t want, while in the process of cleaning, to bust out your windows, crack your siding, or destroy your roof using high pressure.

First, let’s define Soft Wash: Soft Wash is exactly as it sounds, a type of pressure washing that thrusts water and chemical at a lower PSI, usually under 500 PSI. It’s a more gentle wash but is just as effective, if done correctly, as high pressure washes on more durable surfaces. The lower PSI, ensures your surfaces maintain their integrity while still removing any algae, mold, mildew, dirt, and grime.

Professional companies pair safe but effective chemicals with the soft wash to get the job done right and exceed their customer’s cleaning expectations. Typically, the chemicals used for this type of cleaning include a mix of safe commercial grade bleach based detergents. 

Surfaces that require Soft Washing:

-All Vinyl Areas

-Outside Gutters, Soffits, Eaves, Fascia, Downspouts

-Windows, Shutters, Trim

-Garage Doors

Using High Pressure when a Soft Wash is required will cause damage to your surfaces especially if you regularly clean the exterior of your home as recommended, every few years. Likewise, using a Soft Wash when High Pressure is required won’t get your surfaces properly cleaned leaving you in the same position you started. Save yourself the headache and hire a professional who knows which surfaces require which wash with proper chemical ratio utilizations. 

What about a High Pressure Wash? What kind of benefits does it offer?

Pressure Wash: Pros and Cons

Pressure Washing, another type of Power Washing, utilizes high pressure water usually starting around 1300 PSI – 5000 PSI.

Some areas require a more forceful approach to attaining a clean surface. These surfaces must be capable of withstanding high psi to prevent damage.

Surfaces that require a Higher Pressure Wash:

-Concrete 

-Aggregate

-Driveways, Walkways, Porch Floors, and Patios

-Sidewalks and Curbs

It’s so satisfying watching the high pressure water wash away the caked on dirt, grime, algae, and mold leaving your surface looking new again. Professional companies utilize a surface cleaner which sprays thousands of psi water to achieve a more smooth evenly clean result. Utilizing safe but effective bleach based detergents with a soft wash followed by high psi water knocks out any algae and mold build up on your sturdier surfaces just like they build up on your more delicate surfaces. Keep in mind, a high pressure wash only caters to your more durable and hard to clean areas so be sure the company you hire is educated on the difference like you are now. 

Which is Better?

Both. Firstly, hiring a professional pressure washing company is always better. They will be knowledgeable in proper psi usage, chemical usage, and can access those hard dangerous to reach areas of your home. Soft Washes and High Pressure Washes are like apples and oranges and appropriate for different surfaces. If you are like most customers, you are needing delicate and sturdy surfaces both cleaned requiring both types of washes. 

Conclusions

The pros and cons of both washes are varied requiring different applications for different situations. It truly depends on what surfaces you intend to clean. Just a house wash? Soft Wash, all the way. Just a driveway? You’ll need a High Pressure Wash to get that job done right. Just your wooden surfaces such as a wooden fence? A Medium Pressure Wash is required, approximately 900psi. All your exterior surfaces, you’ll need both. A professional company comes prepared to accomplish your specified needs. 

Get Your Home Power Washed Today

If you’re in the state of Tennessee, and you live in Spring Hill or Thompson’s Station, you can get your home Power Washed today. Get rid of all of the dirt, algae, mold, grime and mildew that’s causing your home to look dingy and older than those around it. The stains will be gone in just a few hours. You’ll notice an immediate difference in cleanliness and the revived coloration of your home brought back to its original vibrancy increasing your home’s value. 

Give us, Charity and Charlie, a call at Happy House Washing at (615)549-7966. We are a locally owned and operated business that takes so much pride in making Spring Hill and Thompson’s Station shine. Check out our Google reviews. No one sells our service better than customers we’ve served. We can’t wait to exceed your pressure washing needs.