It’s been a while since you’ve seen the lovely hues of red and brown of your brick home. Parts of what once captivated and charmed you into buying your home in the first place are now looking faded, worn out, and dirty. So, you decide it’s time to power wash your brick home because, well, power washing is right up there with cleaning your chimney and dryer vents in any homeowner’s manual.
Honestly, everything is important for home maintenance – whether in terms of curb appeal or condition. The upkeep you do all impacts your home’s lifespan and resale value.
So, if you’re interested in house washing and going to take the time to bring your beautiful bricks back to life, make sure you aren’t unintentionally causing the opposite effect. While you can power wash your brick home, we don’t recommend it.
Thankfully, there is an alternative to power washing that is more effective and sustainable. Soft washing is the way to go when you’re checking off your annual maintenance checklist for your brick home.
As a brick homeowner, you’re already one step ahead of the rest when it comes to a home that’s built to last. Brick might be one of the strongest building materials for a home’s exterior, but safely washing it is a delicate matter.
What some homeowners don’t realize is how porous brick is, just like concrete. This means that brick is not waterproof, so there’s a risk of the bricks retaining water. Damaged brick can decay over time — much quicker than brick kept in good condition. And one way to achieve this is to avoid pressure washing a brick house, which can cause the distressed brick to chip or recede.
Since power (high pressure) washing can damage brick siding, the recommended route for cleaning your brick home is a soft wash method. Plus, that faded and dirty appearance on the exterior of your home isn’t merely a layer of dirt! It’s dirt plus a buildup of dust and debris that will support the growth of mold, algae, and fungi on your home’s exterior.
While standard power washing can be used for house washing to remove this outer layer of elements and bring your brick home back to life on the surface, soft washing gets to the root of the muck and microbes. Soft washing utilizes biodegradable cleansers that break up surface contaminants. A low-pressure rinse then effectively removes the contaminants in a safer process for the bricks that uses significantly less water than pressure washing.
As you prepare to wash your home’s exterior this year, think beyond the surface level. Our experts at Baker SoftWash won’t leave you with a home that goes back to dingy and discolored with each turn of the season. Our soft wash results last up to six times longer than conventional power washing because they make your brick more resilient to damage, not vulnerable to it.