Pressure Washing in Fort Worth, TX

Too much pressure does real damage. A 3,000 psi stream with a narrow tip will furrow soft pine, blow water behind lap siding, strip mortar from older brick and etch stucco. So most of the house gets a soft wash: a cleaning solution applied at low pressure, given about 5 to 10 minutes of dwell time, then rinsed with a wide fan tip held well back from the wall. The solution does the work, not the force.

Concrete driveways, walks and sound masonry steps can take higher pressure, usually through a surface cleaner that spins two nozzles under a hood. That keeps the pattern even, so you don't end up with the striped look a hand wand leaves on a large slab. Wood fences and decks sit in between: we use moderate pressure, a wide tip and a wood cleaner, then a brightener if the stain plan calls for one.

• Painted siding and trim: soft wash, low pressure
• Brick and stone: soft wash, moderate rinse, no direct blasting at mortar
• Stucco and EIFS: gentle soft wash only
• Concrete: surface cleaner at higher pressure
• Wood fences and decks: wood cleaner, moderate pressure, wide tip

Rub your hand across a sun-facing wall. If it comes away white or pastel, that's chalk, the binder in old paint breaking down under UV. New paint applied over chalk bonds to the powder, not to the wall, and it peels in sheets. Washing removes most of it; on heavily chalked walls we follow up with a bonding primer that's rated for lightly chalked surfaces. We test afterward by wiping a dark cloth across the dry siding.

The wash also clears mildew, which shows up as gray or black speckles on north walls, under eaves and behind shrubs. Painting over live mildew lets it grow right back through the new film. Spider webs, wasp nests in soffits, pollen film in spring and the fine clay dust that coats lower walls after a dry, windy week all come off in the same pass, along with loose paint flakes that are already letting go.

Wood and fiber-cement soak up water during a wash, even a gentle one. Painting too soon traps that moisture under the film, which leads to blistering within weeks. On most Fort Worth homes we wait at least 24 hours in warm, breezy weather and closer to 48 hours after a cool or humid spell, and we check trim and siding with a moisture meter before priming begins. Trim boards under gutters and at the base of walls usually dry last.

Brick and stucco hold water longer than wood. On masonry that's being painted or limewashed, we give it a full two days and look for dark, damp patches near the base of walls, where splashback and irrigation keep it wet. Scraping, sanding, caulking and rot repair happen during that drying window, so the schedule doesn't stall. Fiber-cement siding sits in the middle, drying faster than brick but slower than painted pine, so we give it its own check before primer touches it.

Before any solution goes on, we soak the beds and shrubs along the foundation with plain water, cover delicate plants, close windows, and tape over exterior outlets and light fixtures. After the rinse we water the beds again to dilute anything that dripped. Pool owners get a heads-up first, since runoff from the deck can affect water chemistry. We also move patio furniture, grills and potted plants away from the walls, and we leave gates closed behind us when pets share the yard.

Homes built before 1978 may have lead in the older paint layers. On those houses we don't blast loose paint off with pressure, which would scatter chips across the yard. We wash gently to clean the surface, lay ground covers, and remove loose paint by wet-scraping and hand-sanding methods that keep debris contained and collected. Chips and dust go into sealed bags, and the ground covers are folded inward at the end of each day so nothing blows into your yard or a neighbor's.