What Is Softwash? A Plain Answer for Indiana Homeowners

People call us every week and ask what softwash actually means. Fair question, because the word gets used loosely by anybody with a hose and a truck.

Here is the honest answer from someone who does it for a living in Kosciusko County and the Fort Wayne area. Softwash is a method, not a brand name, and it is defined by what it does not do: it does not blast your house.

What is soft washing and how does it actually work?

Soft washing uses about the pressure of a garden hose. Compare that to pressure washing, which runs roughly 1,300 to 4,000+ PSI. That gap is the whole story.

Instead of force, we use professional, biodegradable cleaning solutions. Those solutions are applied to the surface, given time to work, and then rinsed. They kill the algae, mildew, moss and mold at the root instead of knocking the top layer off and leaving the rest behind.

That is why a soft washed house stays clean longer than a house that got scrubbed with pressure. You removed the organism, not just the stain it made. We go deeper into the science on our benefits of soft washing page.

Softwash vs pressure washing: which surface gets which method?

Pressure washing has a place. Concrete, driveways, sidewalks, patios and brick flatwork are dense and flat, and they take pressure just fine. Those surfaces get clean fast and nothing gets hurt.

Your roof and siding are a different animal. Shingles have a granule layer that protects the mat underneath. Push a pressure washer at them and those granules end up in the gutter, which shortens the life of the roof.

Vinyl siding has seams and laps that water sneaks behind. High pressure drives that water into the wall cavity, and you do not find out until you smell something months later. Painted wood, cedar and stucco are even less forgiving.

Surface	Right method	Why
Asphalt shingle roof	Soft wash only	Pressure strips granules; ARMA recommends low pressure only
Metal roof	Soft wash	Low pressure lifts growth without scarring the finish
Vinyl siding	Soft wash	Water gets behind laps and seams under pressure
Brick or Hardie board walls	Soft wash	Protects mortar joints and factory finish
Soffits, fascia, gutter faces	Soft wash	Thin material, easy to dent or force water past
Painted wood, cedar, stucco	Soft wash	Pressure lifts paint and gouges soft grain
Concrete driveway, sidewalk, patio	Pressure wash	Dense flatwork you walk on, built to take it
Decks and fences	Low pressure, careful	Wood fibers tear at the wrong setting

We never pressure wash a roof. Not once, not for anybody. The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association recommends low pressure cleaning only for asphalt shingles, and that is the method shingle manufacturers back.

Why do northern Indiana homes grow algae, moss and black streaks?

Our climate is a greenhouse for this stuff. Humidity off the lakes, heavy tree cover, long stretches of shade and a freeze and thaw cycle that keeps surfaces damp for months.

Those black streaks running down your roof are an algae called Gloeocapsa magma. It feeds on the limestone filler in your shingles. It is not dirt, and it will not rinse off with a hose.

On siding you get green film, gray mildew and spider webs, usually worst on the north side where the sun never dries things out. Around Winona Lake, Syracuse and Lake Wawasee it moves faster because the air stays damp. Lake homes are a specialty of ours for that reason.

Early September is a good time to deal with it. The growth had all summer to spread, and getting it off before winter means the freeze and thaw cycle is not working on a surface that already holds moisture. Our post on why regular exterior cleaning protects your home covers the damage side in more detail.

What does a softwash house cleaning look like start to finish?

Before we touch the house

1. We walk the property with you and confirm what is getting cleaned and what is staying dry.
2. We pre-rinse and protect your landscaping, plants, shrubs and mulch beds before any solution goes on.
3. We check for open windows, torn screens, loose trim and anything that needs attention first.

The wash itself

1. We apply our 100% biodegradable cleaning solutions at low pressure, working from the bottom up.
2. We give the solution dwell time so it kills the growth at the root instead of smearing it.
3. We rinse from the top down, then rinse the landscaping thoroughly a second time.
4. We walk the property with you before we load up. If something is not right, we fix it before we leave.

A typical house wash is a half day or less depending on size. We are available year-round and we work around your schedule, not the other way around.

How do I choose a softwash company near me?

Search "softwash companies near me" and you get a mix of real operations and guys with a rental machine and a magnetic sign. Here is how to tell them apart before anybody sprays anything.

• Ask if they are licensed and insured. Ask to see it. A real company sends proof without flinching.
• Ask what pressure they use on a roof. If the answer involves any real pressure, hang up.
• Ask how they protect landscaping. "We just rinse after" is not a plan. Protection happens before, not after.
• Ask what solutions they use. Should be professional, biodegradable products, applied by people trained on them.
• Ask about the warranty. Every job we do is backed by a warranty and a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
• Look at real reviews from your area. Not a stock photo gallery and a phone number.

For what it is worth, we have 300+ Google reviews at a 5.0 rating, we are BBB accredited with an A+ rating, and we have cleaned over 3,000 properties for more than 900 customers across northern Indiana. WANE 15 in Fort Wayne has featured our work three times.

What a bad job looks like

Streaked shingles where the wand overlapped. Dead shrubs along the foundation. Water stains inside the wall a month later. Loose vinyl at the corners. Granules piled in the downspout elbow.

Most of that is not fixable with a second cleaning. That is the part people do not think about when they compare a cheap bid to a real one.

How often does a house need a softwash service in Indiana?

We tell customers most homes benefit from a house wash once a year and a roof soft wash every two to four years. Shaded and north facing surfaces grow algae faster, so those homes land on the short end of that range.

If your house sits under mature trees or backs up to a lake, plan on the annual wash and do not stretch it. The growth compounds. Waiting three years does not save money, it just means more work to get back to clean.

If you are pricing this out, know that booking house washing, roof cleaning, gutters and concrete in one visit costs less than booking each service separately. One setup, one trip, one crew. Details are on our house washing page and in our FAQ.

What can you do before the crew arrives?

• Close and latch all windows and doors, and check basement windows too.
• Move vehicles, grills, patio furniture and anything on the deck away from the walls.
• Take down wind chimes, flags, hanging baskets and door wreaths.
• Tell us about torn screens, soft trim, failed caulk or any known leak so we can work around it.
• Keep pets inside while we are on site.

That is it. You do not need to be home, though plenty of folks like to watch the first section come clean.

Quotes are free. Send us an address or a few photos and we usually get you a number the same day, or I will come look at it in person. Call (260) 802-0297.