House Soft Wash in Benbrook
Two things happen in Benbrook that do not happen the same way inland. Bugs come off the water and stipple the lit side of the house overnight, and the siding on a lot of these houses is old enough that soaking it or hitting it hard will take it apart.
On a warm evening the lit walls pull insects in, and by morning there is a stipple of dead ones across the wall, over the porch ceiling and packed inside the fixture. Spiders follow the food, so the webbing comes with it. None of that is dirt exactly, and none of it comes off with a rinse.
It comes off with chemistry at about 100 PSI, which is roughly garden hose pressure. The mix does the cleaning and the water only carries it and rinses it. That is the whole idea of a soft wash and it matters more here than usual, because Benbrook housing runs sixties through eighties and what is on the walls tells you what you can do to it.
Brick across the front and something cheaper down the sides is the common pattern. Older hardboard swells if you let water sit in it and comes apart at the edges. Painted wood does the same. Repainted fascia and painted-over soffit vents will lift and strip under a pressure washer, and once the paint is off the fascia you have a bigger job than the one you called about.
The other Benbrook pattern is one elevation loading up faster than the other three because there is open ground upwind of it. That wall gets the attention, not an even pass on all four.
What we do differently in Benbrook
- ✦About 100 PSI, so chemistry does the cleaning instead of pressure driving water behind the siding
- ✦Porch ceilings and light fixtures included, because that is where the bugs and the webbing actually pack
- ✦Hardboard and painted wood washed without letting water sit in it, since both swell and come apart at the edges
- ✦Nothing high-pressure near repainted fascia or painted-over soffit vents, which lift and strip
- ✦The elevation with open ground upwind treated as the one that needs the work, rather than an even pass on four walls
Questions
Will this take the bugs out of the porch ceiling and the fixtures?
Yes, and those are part of the job rather than an extra. The lit side of the house is where they collect and the fixture is where they pack in hardest. Webbing comes off with them, because the spiders are there for the bugs.
My siding is original. Is washing it safe?
At 100 PSI with the right mix, yes. At pressure, no. Older hardboard and painted wood swell if water sits in them and come apart at the edges, and a pressure washer will strip repainted fascia outright. That is exactly why this is a soft wash and not a pressure wash.