The green film on the side of your house is not dirt. It is alive, it is growing, and that is why rinsing it off with a garden hose buys you about eight weeks before it comes back looking exactly the same.
We soft wash houses across the Richmond metro — vinyl, Hardie, aluminum, painted wood and brick veneer — using a detergent that kills the growth at the root and a pressure low enough that it cannot damage anything.
📞 Call or Text (804) 571-7226 — most quotes go out the same day.
That green film is alive
What is growing on your siding is usually a mix of algae, mildew and mold, and Richmond summers are close to ideal for all three. They need warmth, moisture and shade, and a humid city in the bend of the James supplies all three from May through September.
Which is why it always starts on the same walls. North and northeast elevations get the least direct sun, stay damp longest after a storm, and go green first — often while the sunny side of the same house still looks fine. Add a mature oak or a tight lot line and the shade never breaks at all.
Here is the part most homeowners do not realise: pressure alone removes the stain, not the organism. Blast it off with a rented machine and you have cleared the visible layer while leaving the living root structure in the pores of the siding. It regrows from there, and fast. Killing it is a chemistry problem, not a force problem.
Why we soft wash, and why we will not blast your siding
| Method | Pressure |
|---|---|
| Garden hose | ~60 PSI |
| Our soft wash | under 500 PSI |
| Rented big-box machine | 2,400–3,300 PSI |
That rental figure is five to six times what siding should ever see. At that pressure you can crack vinyl panels outright, blow water up behind the J-channel and around window flashing, strip paint off wood, chew the surface off Hardie board, and cut mortar out of a brick veneer joint.
Soft washing inverts the approach. The detergent does the work — a diluted sodium hypochlorite solution with a surfactant that clings long enough to kill the growth — and low-pressure water simply carries the dead material away. Cleaner result, no damage, and it stays clean substantially longer because the organism is actually dead.
Surfaces we wash
- Vinyl siding — the most common in Richmond’s post-1970 suburbs and the most straightforward to soft wash.
- Hardie and fiber cement — very common in newer Henrico and Chesterfield construction. Cleans beautifully at low pressure; the painted finish is easily damaged at high pressure.
- Aluminum siding — fine to wash, but see the oxidation note below.
- Painted wood — older homes and trim throughout. We check paint adhesion before we start.
- Brick veneer — the modern brick on ranches and colonials from the 1950s on.
- Stucco and EIFS — washable with care. These systems are unforgiving about water intrusion, so pressure stays at the very bottom of the range.
One honest warning about oxidation. Older vinyl and aluminum siding often develops a chalky, faded surface. That is the pigment breaking down — paint failure, not dirt — and no amount of washing brings the colour back. What washing does is remove the growth and grime on top of it, which usually improves things noticeably but will not make the siding look new. We identify oxidation before we wash and tell you what to expect, because finding out afterward feels like being sold something that did not work.
What a house wash includes
- All exterior walls, top to bottom
- Soffits and fascia
- Porch ceilings, columns and railings
- Garage doors
- Exterior light fixtures and shutters
- The foundation splash line, where clay collects
- A clean-water rinse on every window we touched
Not included: roof cleaning, which is a different method entirely, and any masonry that needs a historic-appropriate approach.
Richmond’s pollen problem, and when to book
Oak and tulip poplar pollen runs from late March through April here, and it does not behave like dust. It bonds to porch ceilings, window screens, railings and outdoor furniture in a yellow film that a hose barely touches.
Practical advice: book your house wash after the main drop, generally late April into May. Wash in March and you will be looking at a fresh yellow coat within a fortnight.
How we protect your property
Before any detergent is mixed, landscaping within reach gets soaked down — wet foliage does not absorb — and anything delicate gets covered. Outlets, fixtures and AC units are bagged. We work top-down so nothing dries with detergent on it, and every surface gets a final clean-water rinse, including the beds and lawn at the base of each wall.
Common questions
Is soft washing safe on brick?
Yes on modern brick veneer. Historic brick with lime mortar needs a more careful approach, which we cover on our brick page.
How long does a house wash take?
Two to four hours for most Richmond homes. Larger three-story houses or heavy growth can run longer. It is a same-day job either way.
How long does it stay clean?
Twelve to twenty-four months for most homes here. Shaded and north-facing walls come back first. If your house was washed with pressure alone last time, you will notice a real difference in how long a soft wash holds.
Do you use bleach?
Yes, and we would rather say so plainly than hide behind a marketing word. The industry standard for killing exterior biological growth is sodium hypochlorite — the active ingredient in household bleach — diluted well below household strength, mixed with a surfactant, and neutralised and rinsed at the end. Anyone claiming a “chemical-free” house wash is either using pressure alone, which damages siding and does not last, or not telling you what is in the tank.
What about artillery fungus?
Those tiny black specks that look glued on come from hardwood mulch, and they are the hardest thing on this list. We remove most of them on most houses. The oldest, most deeply embedded specks sometimes will not come off at any pressure that is safe for your siding, and we will tell you that when we look at the wall rather than after we have taken your money.
📞 Call or Text (804) 571-7226 — most quotes go out the same day.