Soft Washing in Redhill
Soft Washing in Redhill: dirt, algae, mould and staining cleared at low pressure with biodegradable solutions that treat the growth at its source. Redhill is just down the road from the Horley base. The first step is a free, no-obligation quote.
- Low-pressure, surface-safe cleaning
- Eco-friendly, biodegradable solutions
- Removes dirt, algae, mould and staining
- Treats growth at the source for a longer-lasting finish
Soft Washing for homes and businesses in Redhill
Painted masonry and pebbledash are both surfaces where a pressure washer causes damage that costs real money to put right. If either is on your Redhill house, it is worth knowing that before anyone points a lance at it. Painted walls lose their paint. Pebbledash loses its stones. Neither of those can be patched neatly, which is exactly why soft washing exists.
Paint comes off, and it comes off unevenly
Masonry paint on an older wall has usually been on for years and is bonded unevenly: solid in some areas, already lifting in others. A pressure washer finds the weak spots and strips them, leaving a wall that is now patchy, not dirty.
The awkward part is that a repaint to fix it means the whole elevation, not the patch, because touched-in masonry paint never quite matches weathered paint. A soft wash removes the growth without asking anything of the paint film.
Pebbledash holds growth and hates pressure
Pebbledash is stone thrown onto a wet render coat, so it is all texture and shadow. That texture holds moisture and dirt beautifully, which is why pebbledashed walls go green quickly and why they never look clean once they have.
It is also loosely bound by design. Hit pebbledash with real pressure and you take stones off, leaving bald grey patches. Soft washing gets into the texture chemically, which is the only way to clean it thoroughly without stripping it.
How we work
- 1Identify the growth and the substrate
Green algae, black lichen, red algae and mould all respond differently, and render, K-rend, painted masonry, timber, cladding and PVC all take the treatment differently. Both halves have to be right before anything is mixed.
- 2Test patch somewhere out of the way
On painted and rendered surfaces especially, a small area should be tried first to see how it reacts. It costs ten minutes and it is the difference between a clean elevation and a patchy one.
- 3Pre-wet the planting and cover what needs covering
Beds and borders want watering before anything is mixed so nothing takes the solution neat, and anything nearby that should not get wet wants covering. This is most of the actual work on a soft wash.
- 4Apply at low pressure and let it dwell
The solution does the cleaning, not the machine. It goes on gently, then it needs time on the surface. Rushing the dwell is the usual reason a soft wash looks streaky.
- 5Rinse or leave to weather, then check back over
Some surfaces get rinsed down, some are better left for the rain to finish, and it depends on the product and the material. We tell you which one applies to yours and what it will look like in a fortnight.
A soft wash keeps clearing after we leave. The colour lifts on the day and the rest weathers off over the following days and weeks, so it is worth not judging it the same afternoon.
Other services in Redhill
Soft Washing near Redhill
Real results
Soft Washing: before & after
Genuine before and after results from recent jobs across Surrey, Sussex and Kent.
Customer reviews
What our customers say
Dirty South Power Wash were absolutely fantastic from start to finish. They're extremely friendly, professional, and reliable, making the whole process completely stress free. I had my decking soft washed and the results were amazing, it genuinely looks like new and has been brought back to life. You can really tell they take pride in their work and pay attention to detail. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone and will definitely be using their services again in the future!
No fuss, just excellent - from start to finish. Friendly to deal with, clear communication all the way, came when they said they would, did an excellent job. Would use again without a doubt.
Great service, really pleased with our garage roof. All the moss has gone and left nice and tidy. Great guys too. Thanks!
Did a fantastic job on a garage roof clean/moss removal, looks good as new! friendly & professional highly recommend 👏🏼
Really pleased with our driveway😊
They done an amazing job and great price
Good to know
Soft Washing in Redhill: your questions answered
Can you clean a painted wall without stripping the paint?
That is exactly what soft washing is for. The cleaning is done by a biocidal solution at very low pressure rather than by force, so the paint film is not being asked to resist anything. It is also worth testing a small area first on painted surfaces, because older masonry paint bonds unevenly and you want to see how it reacts before committing to a whole elevation.
Will pressure washing damage pebbledash?
Yes, easily. Pebbledash is stone thrown onto a render coat and it is loosely bound by design, so genuine pressure knocks the stones off and leaves bald grey patches that cannot be matched. The heavy texture also holds growth deep in the shadows, which is why it needs a chemical approach, not a mechanical one.
Do you test the surface before cleaning the whole wall?
On painted and rendered surfaces it should be done, and it takes a few minutes. A small area out of sight shows how the coating reacts before anyone commits to a full elevation. Older paintwork in particular can be sound in one area and already lifting in another, and finding that on a test patch is far better than finding it halfway across the front of the house.
My wall is green on one side of the house only. Why?
Aspect and drying time. The elevation facing north or east gets far less direct sun, so it stays damp for longer after rain, and damp is what algae needs. The south-facing wall dries quickly and stays comparatively clear. It is one of the most common questions we get and it almost never indicates a problem with the wall itself.
Do you clean the whole house or just the affected wall?
Either, though it is worth thinking about how it will look. Cleaning only the green elevation is perfectly sensible and it is what most people do, since the sunny walls often need nothing. On a house where the elevations are clearly visible together, doing them all avoids an obvious difference in tone between one wall and the next.
Soft Washing in Redhill, done properly
Free, no-obligation quotes across Surrey, Sussex and Kent. Send a few photos and we will do the rest.