Exterior cleaning
Pressure Washing & Exterior Surface Cleaning
Driveways, walks, patios, decks, fences and siding cleaned at pressures the surface can survive — soft wash where pressure would do damage.
The honest version
What this actually involves
Pressure washing has the best before-and-after ratio of anything we do and the highest potential to wreck something permanently. The same machine that makes a driveway look new will carve visible lines into soft concrete, strip the surface off a cedar deck, drive water up behind siding, and destroy mortar joints on older brick.
The skill is knowing when not to use pressure. Most of what makes a house look dirty is organic growth — algae, mildew, lichen — and that is a chemistry problem, not a force problem. Soft washing with the correct cleaning solution at low pressure removes it more completely and it stays gone longer, because you have killed the organism rather than blasted the visible layer off it.
Where high pressure genuinely belongs is hard, sound surfaces: concrete driveways, walkways and some paver work. Everywhere else, the correct answer is usually less pressure than people expect.
Send us these photos and we can usually answer without a visit
- The full surface from a distance so we can judge area
- A close-up of the material and the staining
- Any damaged, loose or deteriorated areas
- Landscaping and plantings adjacent to the surface
- Where the nearest working outdoor spigot is
A driveway and walkway is typically two to four hours. A full exterior soft wash on a single-family house is most of a day. Weather dependent — we will not wash into a freeze or a downpour.
In scope
What's included
Specific enough that you can check your own list against it before you send anything.
- Concrete driveways, walkways and patiosSurface cleaning at appropriate pressure, including the rust, oil and organic staining that make concrete look older than it is.
- House siding — soft washVinyl, fiber cement and painted siding cleaned with low-pressure application and the correct solution, which removes growth rather than driving water behind panels.
- Decks, porches and railingsWood and composite cleaned at pressures the material tolerates. Wood in particular is easy to permanently furr and mark, and it is not repairable by washing it again.
- Fences and gatesWood, vinyl and metal fencing cleaned along the run, including the shaded side where growth is always worse.
- Brick, block and stoneCleaned with attention to mortar condition. On older masonry with soft or deteriorated mortar we will reduce pressure or decline, because blown mortar joints are an expensive repair.
- Pre-listing and pre-photo exterior cleaningThe whole exterior brought up before listing photos, an open house or a tenant move-in. One of the highest-impact things you can do to a property for the money.
- Gutter face cleaningRemoving the vertical streaking on gutter exteriors — a specific staining that ordinary washing does not touch and that needs a dedicated cleaner.
- Dumpster pads and commercial hard surfacesEntry areas, walkways, patios and service areas for small commercial properties where appearance affects the customer's first impression.
From actual jobs
What this looks like in real life
Our own photos, not stock. Some of these are the state a property was in when we arrived, which is the honest version of this work.
Out of scope
What we won’t do, and why we say it up front.
Every list has at least one item that belongs to somebody else. Naming it early costs you nothing. Finding out after the work has started costs you a second contractor, a second schedule and sometimes a second repair to undo the first one.
There is also an insurance dimension people underestimate. Unlicensed work in a licensed category can give a carrier grounds to deny a claim later. That risk is yours, not ours, which is exactly why we will not quietly take the job.
- Roof cleaning or any work performed from a roof surface
- Pressure washing where it would void a siding, decking or coating manufacturer's warranty
- Paint or coating removal, including lead-paint surfaces — pre-1978 painted surfaces are not pressure washed
- Interior gutter cleaning above single-story height
- Stucco, EIFS and synthetic finishes, which are easily and expensively damaged
- Sealing and staining as a separate service, beyond small touch-up areas
- Cleaning where deteriorated mortar, failed sealant or damaged siding means water will get inside the assembly
How it runs
From your photos to a finished job
You should know where you stand by step two, before any money is involved.
Send photos of the surface and its condition
Material, age and condition determine method more than square footage does. A close-up of the surface tells us whether pressure is even an option.
We choose method before pressure
Soft wash with the right solution for organic growth, higher pressure only on hard sound surfaces. Getting this backwards is how permanent damage happens.
Protect what shouldn't get wet
Plantings pre-wet and rinsed, fixtures and outlets covered, doors and windows checked. Cleaning solution on landscaping without rinsing kills it.
Clean, rinse, walk it with you
Even coverage without stripes or wand marks, thorough rinse, and a walk-around so you can point at anything you want a second pass on.
What drives cost
We can't quote a number here. We can tell you what moves it.
Anyone publishing a flat price for this category is either padding it heavily or about to revise it on site. Here is what actually changes the figure.
- Square footage and surface type together. A thousand square feet of concrete and a thousand of cedar decking are not comparable jobs.
- Condition matters as much as area. Heavy organic growth, rust staining or years of neglect need dwell time and a second pass.
- Water access matters. If there is no working spigot with reasonable pressure, we have to bring water and that changes the job.
- Bundling is efficient — driveway, walks, patio and siding together share setup, and setup is a real share of the cost.
- Older masonry may need a test area before we commit to a price, because mortar condition determines what is safe.
Travel and setup are charged once whether we do one item or nine. If there is anything else on your mind, add it to the list — the marginal cost of item two is a fraction of item one.
We stop and tell you before doing anything else, and you decide. We do not expand a job on the fly and hand you a revised invoice at the end.
Field notes
Four ways this gets done wrong
Mostly these are things we get called out to repair after somebody else — or a well-meaning weekend — got there first.
Using pressure where chemistry was needed
Algae and mildew are living organisms. Blasting the visible layer off leaves the root structure and it returns within months. The correct solution at low pressure kills it and it stays clean far longer.
Turning a pressure washer on wood
Cedar, pine and older pressure-treated decking are soft. High pressure raises the grain, furrs the surface and leaves permanent wand marks that no amount of subsequent washing removes. Sanding or replacement is the only correction.
Driving water up behind siding
Siding sheds water downward. Aiming a pressure wand upward at a lap joint forces water behind the panel, into the wall assembly, where it has no path out. This is how a cosmetic job becomes a rot problem.
Washing old masonry at full pressure
Historic and older brick often has soft lime mortar. Pressure that a modern driveway shrugs off will remove mortar from the joints, and repointing costs many times what the cleaning did.
Questions
Pressure Washing — common questions
Will pressure washing damage my siding?
How long will it stay clean?
Will it kill my plants?
Can you clean my roof?
Do you seal the concrete or stain the deck afterward?
My house was built in the 1950s. Is that a problem?
Where we do this
Pressure Washing across the Lake Norman region
Each of these pages covers what's different about this work in that specific town — housing eras, permitting authority, and what we actually see there.
Pressure Washing in Statesville
Home base. Same-week scheduling is usually realistic here.
Pressure Washing in Mooresville
Core service area. We are in Mooresville most weeks.
Pressure Washing in Denver
Core service area across east Lincoln County.
Pressure Washing in Troutman
Core service area, minutes from home base.
Pressure Washing in Lake Norman
All four shoreline counties. Waterfront access details matter — tell us up front.
- Pressure Washing in Cornelius, NC
- Pressure Washing in Davidson, NC
- Pressure Washing in Huntersville, NC
- Pressure Washing in Sherrills Ford, NC
- Pressure Washing in Terrell, NC
- Pressure Washing in Mount Mourne, NC
- Pressure Washing in Lincolnton, NC
- Pressure Washing in Hickory, NC
- Pressure Washing in Newton, NC
- Pressure Washing in Conover, NC
- Pressure Washing in Catawba, NC
- Pressure Washing in Claremont, NC
- Pressure Washing in Maiden, NC
- Pressure Washing in Iron Station, NC
- Pressure Washing in Stanley, NC
- Pressure Washing in Harmony, NC
- Pressure Washing in Union Grove, NC
- Pressure Washing in Olin, NC
- Pressure Washing in Cleveland, NC
- Pressure Washing in Barium Springs, NC
- Pressure Washing in Stony Point, NC
- Pressure Washing in Taylorsville, NC
- Pressure Washing in Kannapolis, NC
- Pressure Washing in Concord, NC
- Pressure Washing in Salisbury, NC
- Pressure Washing in China Grove, NC
Usually sent together
Related work people add to the same list
Yard Cleanup
Leaves, limbs, storm debris, overgrowth and years of accumulation cleared and hauled — including the parts of the property nobody has walked in a while.
Fence & Gate Repair
Sagging gates, loose boards, failed latches, leaning sections and the exterior hardware that has stopped doing its job.
Punch Lists
Inspection repair addendums, pre-listing punch lists, builder walkthrough items and turnover lists worked through and closed out as one project.
Caulk & Touch-Up
Failed caulk removed and replaced properly, plus honest advice on when touch-up paint will work and when it will look worse.
Next step
Have pressure washing on your list? Send it with everything else.
Photos, notes, an inspection report, a screenshot of your notes app — whatever you have. We read every one and reply with a straight answer, including the parts we're not the right fit for.