Using a pressure washer is suitable for most homeowners or car owners looking to clean their property. Well before you can handle a pressure washer you need to be a professional or read our previous articles on how to start a pressure washer to phantom out issues with your Soft wash pressure washer and resolve it yourself.
When you come across soft wash using a pressure washer, various questions would be running across your mind. Well in this article we would discuss the best conditions that would enable you to use soft wash pressure washer and also the pros and cons between soft washing and pressure washing.
Soft Wash Pressure Washer
For some reason, you are quite curious to find out if one can use a pressure washer to soft wash. Well yes, you can soft wash pressure washer by simply regulating the PSI (pound per square inch) through the pressure washer or you should use a different tip on your sprayer.
How can you effectively adjust the PSI on your pressure washer whenever you want to soft wash pressure washer?
You can use a Vario Power Spray (VPS) wand to adjust your pressure washer by switching from low to high pressure. Therefore, this will help to regulate the flow of water and can be controlled by twisting the end for infinitely variable pressure adjustment. The VPS wand will automatically dispense detergent when adjusted to low-pressure mode.
You can also reduce the pressure of your pressure washer by stepping back away from the area that you are cleaning, as this will help to reduce the impact of pressure.
Some gas pressure washers are designed to have a pressure regulator on the pump depending on the model. You can control the dial to either increase or decrease pressure. Some other models have a regulator on the spray wand, which works similarly to the Vario wand on your electric power washer which we discussed earlier.
Lastly, you should also consider changing the nozzle tips, as it can also alter the impact and direction of the flow of water. Nozzles help when you want to reach a longer distance or when you want to apply more pressure when cleaning.
Nozzles can be identified with colors, a black nozzle covers the widest degree while the red nozzle covers the least. However you should take necessary precautions when using the red nozzle as it can cause injuries to passersby and even the user, it can also damage surfaces.
Soft Wash vs Pressure Wash
Before we briefly explain soft wash pressure washer, as well as the benefits of both. We would like you to understand the concept behind pressure washing and soft washing.
Pressure Washing
Pressure washing is also known as power washing and it involves using high-pressure water spray to remove loose paints, mold, grime, dust, mud, and dirt from surfaces and objects such as buildings, vehicles, and concrete surfaces.
A pressure washer is suitable for cleaning surfaces including gutters, roofs, decks, sidewalks, patios, driveways, parking lots, etc. Most businesses and homeowners are constantly looking to reduce allergies, minimize hazards, and improve aesthetics therefore they are constantly looking for cleaning professionals who make use of pressure washers.
Well if you are making use of a pressure washer, you need to be very careful, as they are known to cause lacerations, eye injuries, punctures, and bruises. Both hot and cold water pressure washers have a pump that pressurizes water and then shoots it out at high pressure. However, a hot water pressure washer would go through a boiler which would then heat the water before eventually shooting out of the pressure washer.
Benefits of High-Pressure Washing
A high-pressure cleaner can clean quickly and deep when used and it consumes less water. It increases quality and it removes tough stains such as oil, grease, or grime as water exerts high pressure.
Another benefit of using a high-pressure washer is that it saves a lot of time. You can work multiple times a day, it takes an average of 10-15 minutes, to properly clean a car. While an average of less than an hour to clean a home.
And lastly using a high-pressure washer is cost-effective, as you make use of less water and the machine has a prolonged life of about 5 to 10 years on average.
Soft Washing
The term soft washing is a cleaning procedure whereby one uses low-pressure water. Soft washing can be described to be a form of spraying chemical buildings or homes to remove organic stains from building exteriors and rooftops. However soft washing is done using 40-80 PSI for rinsing or cleaning applications. The soft wash pressure washer can be effectively done by replacing the tip with a new tip that will widen the spray, this then drops the pressure of water or chemical.
Benefits of Low-Pressure Washing
Don’t forget Low-pressure washers use chemicals and water to clean your homes and properties. Therefore using low pressure washing has a wide range of benefits which includes:
When you Clean your home and property with low-pressure washing, it helps you to prolong the life of your exterior paint. It will help to prevent damage to your home’s siding, and it kills bacteria and organisms that produce mildew and mold.
Low-pressure washing also makes your home look amazing after cleaning while it also protects and preserves its exterior structures. Low-pressure washing is an inexpensive task that helps to add significant value to your home appearance.
Soft Wash Chemicals
Chemicals used during soft wash are eco-friendly, biodegradable, Non-Hazardous, and are not harmful to people or dangerous to the environment. Most soft wash chemicals are produced using sodium hypochlorite also known as bleach, water, and surfactants.
Meanwhile, some of these chemicals can be mixed with bleach and water to make a soft washing solution. They can be used to clean most surfaces and it allows the cleaning effect to be greater.
What is Soft Washing a House
Soft washing a house refers to the use of biodegradable chemicals to remove mold, mildew, bacteria, algae, fungus, moss, and other organic stains from the home exterior such as rooftops, gutters, decks, sidewalks, patios, driveways, siding, parking lots, cladding, garages, and building surfaces.
However, asphalt roofing manufacturers recommend low-pressure washing as their preferred method for cleaning asphalt roofing, to prevent damage to the shingles. The pressure exerted for low-pressure washing is usually below 750 psi. Anything above 750 to 30,000 psi (5 to 200 MPa) is considered a high-pressure wash or power wash.
In conclusion, it costs $275 to $400 to soft wash a 1,500-square-foot home with labor costs charged at $55 to $80 per hour and might take about 2 to 3 hours to finish. The average cost per square foot starts from $0.25 to $0.35. However, this is just an average cost as we are not specific and you should contact professionals to get price quotes.
Lastly, if you are a homeowner, you should get your house washed every 1-3 years on average. Well, this depends on the area you live in, the environment, and the high population.
If you live in an area with high rainfall, you should wash your home more frequently than the average 1-3 year period. While if you live in an area with dry weather and little rainfall, then you don’t need to wash your home frequently as it might take an average 4-6 year period.