Both use water to clean your property, but using the wrong one can damage your home. Here's how to tell which service your driveway, siding, or fence actually needs.
Most people use "pressure washing" as a catch-all term for any exterior cleaning job. In reality, pressure washing and soft washing are two different processes built for two different kinds of surfaces — and using the wrong one can do real damage.
Pressure washing uses high-pressure water, usually with little or no chemical cleaner, to blast dirt, oil stains, gum, and tire marks off hard, non-porous surfaces. It's the right call for concrete driveways, sidewalks, patios, and pool decks — surfaces built to take that kind of force.
Soft washing uses low water pressure combined with a specialized cleaning solution that kills algae, mold, and mildew at the root, then rinses it away gently. It's the right call for siding, stucco, painted surfaces, fencing, and screened enclosures — anything that could crack, dent, or strip under high pressure.
Getting this backwards is where the damage happens. High pressure on stucco or older siding can strip paint or drive water behind the surface, creating problems you can't see until much later. The same force splinters wood fencing and blows out mortar joints.
A simple rule of thumb: if it's underfoot and made of concrete or pavers, it's probably a pressure-washing job. If it's a wall, a fence, or anything painted, it's almost always a soft-washing job.
At Vailco, we look at the surface first and choose the method that actually protects it — not whichever is fastest. We clean houses, driveways and flat surfaces, pool decks, fences and gutters; we do not take roof work. If you're not sure which method your property needs, that's exactly what a free on-site estimate is for.
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Vailco, Inc. is licensed and insured, serving Duval, Clay, St. Johns and Nassau Counties in Florida, plus Camden County, Georgia. Tell us about your property and we'll recommend the right method.