I was at a networking event recently and a lot of people were asking me about house washing and roof cleaning. They were well aware of the potential disaster a power washer could cause and I have to say that I was very impressed with their level of knowledge. Personally, I think there is nothing better than a well-informed customer. Their questions, however, made me realize that MANY others must have the same questions. The purpose of this post is to talk about the difference between power washing and soft washing.

One of the main reasons we say we do power washing or pressure washing is because when a potential customer is looking to get their home washed or their roof cleaned, oftentimes, they will search for someone that does “power washing.” Power washing and pressure washing have become everyday household words. For example, how often have you heard a friend or family member say: “I’ve been looking for someone to soft wash my home”? You don’t generally. In the end, “power washing” and “pressure washing” are general terms which cover a wide variety of washing and cleaning services which we perform.

Now let’s think of the machine itself, which is generally called a power washer or pressure washer. Although it’s capable of shooting water at very high pressure, most of the time we aren’t using it that way. It’s like an accelerator on a car. For example, have you ever been to NYC and seen someone  driving a Ferrari through downtown Manhattan? Here is a car capable of driving over 200 MPH and yet it is crawling at a snails pace from stoplight to stoplight. So again, the power washing machine (Ferrari) is capable of great power, but when we are using it to “soft wash” it’s like we’re driving in Manhattan. . , nice and slow.

Now I don’t want you to think that we use a power washing machine to only do soft washing. There are times when you need higher pressure, although this is done mostly in commercial and industrial settings. So the term ‘power washing’ covers everything from soft washing (low power or pressure) to high-pressure washing where appropriate.

OK. . . let’s get to the point; what is soft washing then? It involves using low pressure and eco-friendly detergents to loosen the dirt and wash it away. How low is the pressure? There is no industry standard, but the way I like to explain it is like this: The pressure is so low that you can safely place your hand in front of the stream of water coming out of the nozzle. If it’s safe for your hand, then it’s safe for your home. The real key to soft washing is knowledge, training, and technique NOT high-pressure water. Remember, a customer well educated on this subject is a good customer, so keep on asking those great questions!