Serving Areas of
Carroll, Washington, Frederick, Howard and Western Baltimore Counties in Maryland.

We accept Credit Cards:
Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.

MHIC # 51996

Houses

Professional Power Washing Services 

_{Not Just Clean....... Squeaky Clean!!!}

HOUSE WASHING PROCESS

• First, each side is treated with a solution designed to kill mildew, algae and other biological contaminants.
   
• Next, heavily soiled and stained areas are treated with specialized cleaners and detergents.
   
• The gutters are often the dirtiest part of the house and won’t come clean without scrubing. We use a special soap specifically for cleaning gutters.
   
• As we rinse the entire side of the house down, we rinse each of the windows thoroughly to be sure we get as much soap residue off of the windows as possible.
   
• The last step in the process is to apply a polymer wax to the siding. This is done to give the siding a protective coating that will resist the adhesion of dirt and mildew for up to a year.

MOST COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS
 ABOUT CLEANING SIDING

Q.        I thought siding was maintenance free.  Why do I need to have it cleaned?

A.        Siding gets dirty just like any other surface.  Routine cleaning helps keep your house looking beautiful and keeps dirt and mildew from damaging your siding. 

Q.        Will pressure washing do any damage to my siding?

A.        We use soap that is specially formulated for cleaning siding, therefore we can let the soap do the work and extremely high pressure is not needed.

Q.        Will it harm my plants?

A.        No.  The soap we use is specifically designed for cleaning houses and is non-toxic to plants.  As an extra precaution we keep the plants wetted down to be extra careful.

Q.        What kind of products do you use to clean the house?

A.        All soaps and coatings we use are specially formulated for cleaning siding.

Q.        Do you have to scrub the house with a brush?

A.        In most cases not much scrubbing is required.  If we come across a hard to clean spot, we scrub it with a soft brush to get it clean.

Q.        Will the windows be clean when you are done?

A.        We pay special attention to rinse the windows down as we go, but sometimes a slight residue remains on the windows.

Q.        Do you bring your own water?

A.        We do have the ability to haul water to the job site, however a lot of jobs take more water than we are able to carry.  You need to inform us in advance if water is a concern. 

What is Artillery Fungi

            Increasingly people are starting to find small black specks appearing on the siding and other surfaces around the house. These specks resemble insect feces or other air-born

pollutants, however they are actually the spores expelled from the fruiting bodies of a fungi known commonly as “artillery” or “shotgun” fungus. It usually grows in organic matter like mulch under cool moist conditions

            Artillery fungus is a very small mushroom fungus that has a cup shaped fruiting body filled with small spores. As the fruiting bodies grow they point themselves toward strong light sources such as light colored buildings, cars and light reflecting glass. The mushroom opens up like a flower, and the black sticky spores are shot out as high as twenty feet and are adhered as if with “Super Glue”.

            Most attempts to remove the spores are futile at best especially if the spores have been in place for more than a few weeks. A number of chemists are working toward a chemical solution to the problem, but to date have not developed a product that works. The only process that has seen any success is the use of high volume hot water under very high pressure. However this cannot be used in many cases because the cure has the potential to be more damaging to the surface being cleaned than the artillery fungus itself.

            Prevention is the key, and the best way to do that is to completely remove all the bark and hardwood mulch from around the home, and replace it with decorative stone or some other non-wood ground cover. If this is not a viable option, a good compromise might be to use mulches made from rot resistant woods such as cedar, redwood, or cypress. Though this will not guarantee the fungi will stop growing, it will give the fungi less organic matter to feed on, and slow down the appearance of those little black dots on your siding.