Frequently Asked Pressure Wash Questions
Atlanta Pressure Washing takes great pride in answering all our customer’s questions – For the sake of brevity we’ll add this FAQ page which should help answer most common questions a prospective power wash customer may have about us. This is by no means a thorough listing, it is a work in progress. If you have any additional questions whatever they may be you can reach us 24/7 just fill out our contact form and we’ll reply within the hour, if not minutes.!
Q - How much pressure do you use to clean a house?
A – The amount of pressure we use to clean a house relies on the surface we are cleaning. For Vinyl Siding, Stucco we use a very light pressure similar to a garden hose. To clean mold, moss from brick, stone we have to use more pressure.
Q - is there a right time of year to pressure wash a house?
A – As long as you don’t pressure wash your house right before spring pollen season any other time of year is good to power wash your home. We can pressure wash in all conditions – from as low as 50 degrees, to over 100 degrees. The effectiveness of our cleaning detergents diminish as temperatures dip below 50 degrees.
Q - do we need to be home when you pressure wash the house?
A – We always like to err on the side of caution- Many times home owners forget to shut 1 window and it is usually at the very top of the house, or a small bathroom window that is halfway shut. Besides having someone who can shut a window that was forgotten, we prefer to have someone home with a towel to ensure no droplets find their way on their hardwood floors, etc. Older historic homes such as houses from Grant Park , In-town usually have older doors, and windows with substantial gaps, and air pockets. For this reason we suggest someone be home for the duration of the house wash.
Q - do we need to remove our window screens?
A – Definitely. Removing your window screens ensures we can get 100 percent of the grime that’s trapped by the screens- which includes dead bugs, pollen, accumulated dirt, etc. If you have your leave your screens together by the garage door our technician will gladly soft wash them removing all the soiling that they’ve gathered over the years.
q - How About storm windows?
A – Because many installers use glue, or weather stripping that sticks like glue after many years – we do not recommend removing storm windows. The windows can break as they will need to be gently pried open to unstick. This can be dangerous as shards of glass can easily cut someone.
q - Do you clean all of the house as in brick, gutters, downspouts?
A – Yes, when we quote you a house wash it is for the entire house including gutters, downspouts, windows, siding, brick, stone, vinyl siding. A house wash does not include decks, fences, driveways, sidewalks, neither will it include screened porches (unless you request it as an add-on).
Q - How long have you been power washing for?
A – We have been pressure washing in Atlanta, GA since 1998, on the web since 2004.
Q - Do you use harsh chemicals?
A – For normal jobs we use use professional grade cleaners that are environmentally conscious. We can provide technical data sheets of all the cleaning agents we use.
For tough stains we do have to use strong cleaning agents – some being alkaline, acidic in nature. We always rinse off plants, landscaping before and after all power washing work is complete.
Q - how often do we need to pressure wash our house, deck, fence driveway, pool deck?
A – How often a house needs pressure washing relies on a few variables- if the house is surrounded by a dense tree canopy it will more than likely need once a year pressure washing. Houses that get heavy sun without any shade will need less frequent cleaning. It all depends how much mold, mildew build up on your house. No two houses are alike. That said it won’t hurt your house if you decide to clean it once a year. Your paint life will last longer, as mold feeds off paint molecules.
For Driveways – we recommend once a year to once every two years. Driveway power washing especially in steep driveways decline, incline are slippery and dangerous to walk on.
For decks we recommend pressure washing when you first notice signs of mold. Mold, and fungus are indicators of water collecting on deck surfaces. Being that wood is a porous living organism it will absorb water and will eventually rot, decay. Black mold is usually the first indicator of an underlying problem – typically it is due to gunk, debris collecting between deck boards and not allowing water to escape between floor-boards. This pooling of water will cause a large amount of black, green mold which will eventually cause wood rot. Cleaning your deck once a year to twice a year will ensure that your deck stays clean , mold free year-round.
Fences require cleaning at least every other year. This ensures that we can nip any mold in the bud before it gets out of hand. This also allows you to seal and stain your fence thereby sealing out all moisture and ensuring your fence has a long life.
Pool decks re recommend cleaning before putting the deck into service for the summer. Pool deck surfaces can become highly slippery and dangerous to walk, or in the case of children to run on. We encourage our customers to sign up for our pressure washing service plan to ensure these areas don’t get missed before starting to use your pool heavily.
How much will a pressure wash of my house cost?
We don’t have a written down pressure washing charge structure – We normally base our prices on a few variables such as:
For houses:
- On houses material of house has a factor on how much we charge – eg i vinyl siding, brick, stucco, etc.
- How dirty the house is, amount and type of soiling, as in red clay stains, rust stains, black gutter markings. All these variables affect the price of a house pressure washing’s total cost-charge
For Driveways there are a few variables as well
- Steep driveways are more difficult, and require extra attention
- Driveways with a lot of cracks require more attention as well
So you see, there is not a formula for how much we charge for a particular pressure washing job, rather we tailor price each job individually – that way it is fair for you, and us as well. That said our prices are as competitive as they come considering the quality of pressure washing we provide.
While we’re at it other factors that affect the pricing of a pressure washing job – for example on decks – a deck that is painted is less expensive to clean than say, a deck that is raw wood that’s extremely dingy. A deck that needs its finish stripped will cost more than a deck that’s been painted as well – Same goes for fences Prices will fluctuate depending on surface conditions.
We’re all about saving our customers money- and we know our prices can’t be beat, so give us a call at 404.992.4870 , or text us at the same number to go over any pricing questions you may have.
Q - Do you pressure wash tennis courts, basketball courts?
A – Yes, we use tennis court specific cleaning agents that remove years of mold, moss, mildew ensuring safe playing surfaces year round. We only clean tennis courts for our residential customers. We don’t offer commercial pressure washing. We power wash all basketball courts as well.
q - Do you offer commercial power washing?
A – Unfortunately we do not. We have many repeat residential customers, yearly residential pressure washing that taking on commercial pressure washing is not something we could do. We can happily recommend a reputable commercial (only) pressure washing company.
Q - What's all the terminology mean? Power Wash, Pressure Wash, Steam Clean, Soft wash?
- Power wash, pressure wash are basically the same thing – just worded differently.
- Steam cleaning is using high temperature water which is beneficial when cleaning grease stains (gas stations, etc).
- Soft wash is not the same as pressure or power wash – as a low pressure high volume stream of water is used. The cleaning agents do the work, not the pressure.
We will add a few more terminology items to the list as well like:
- Surface cleaner – Also known as whirl-aways, floor scrubbers. A surface cleaner allows thorough cleaning of flat walking surfaces (also known as flatwork to our tradespeople) such as concrete driveways, walkways, sidewalks, patios, pool decks. A surface cleaner should NEVER be used on wood decks.
- PSI, GPM – Psi is (pounds per square inch) think of PSI as the horsepower, and think of GPM as the Torque. GPM is what matters when pressure washing properly. The more GPM the more volume of water that is used (NOT PRESSURE, Volume). We also use a term called ‘cleaning units’ (which is associated with GPM) that measures how effectively a pressure washer can clean a surface.
- Flatwork – Cleaning all flat areas like driveways, walkways, sidewalks, patios, pool decks, etc. Any Walking surface.
- Dwell time – Amount of time we allow a cleaning detergent to dwell on a surface before power washing.
- Wood Brightener – Acidic in nature – brighteners are a vital ingredient in a proper deck and fence restoration project. They revive the wood tone bringing back wood’s natural tone, accentuating the wood grain, opening the pores of the wood, and balancing out the natural PH of the wood. It is a step that many miss, but not us!
That about covers it, will add more terminology later.
Q - What separates you from handymen, painters?
A – Experience – we’ve handled, encountered pretty much all scenarios related to pressure washing. We are careful , know the pitfalls of not following a strict cleaning method. Many handymen, painters, etc have very little experience handling a pressure washer, having the judgement of how much pressure to use where, and most importantly what cleaners to use where. Many handymen, painters, window cleaners also use big box store off the shelf cleaning products that only halfway clean exterior stains, especially from wood decks, and brick, natural stone. Pressure washing is all we do.
Q - How quick is your turnaround time?
A – From the moment you contact us you’ll receive a reply within the hour, if not minutes. Once contact is made our job turn around time is usually at most within a week (our busiest time of year) to within a day or two .
Q - How far do you travel? i live outside atlanta.
A – We service a 15 mile radius from Brookhaven, GA. Please visit our Service Area page for a full listing of areas we service. We don’t travel outside those areas, unfortunately.
q - do you offer any warranty?
A – We are so confident of our pressure washing services that we offer a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. If for any reason you’re not satisfied with any portion of our service we will make it right to your complete satisfaction , or you pay nothing.
Q - Do you stain decks?
A – We do not stain decks, we do have an excellent deck and fence stain company we can recommend.
q - Do you seal stone, and concrete?
A – We can seal your stone, concrete, pool decks, etc. as long as it is using a superior product (seal-n-lock, prosoco, etc) We do not seal stone, concrete with inferior products from paint stores, or big box stores – Inferior products will peel over time, and will be difficult to remove. This is not a service we offer by itself – we offer it as a courtesy for our existing customers after washing concrete surfaces.
Q - Do you offer multiple house discounts?
Yes, as long as it isn’t commercial in nature. We do not perform commercial pressure washing. Commercial being HOA’s, etc.
Q - Do you clean mobile homes, manufactured homes?
A – Yes, we clean all homes, any shape and size.
q - Do you protect our plants, and shrubs?
A – In cooler climates we use thin plastic to cover all plantings, shrubs- Pre-wetting before and after. In warmer climates we rinse off before and after. We’ve never had an issue with plants during our services. Pre and post wetting is crucial as it ensures no cleaning agents stick to your plant leaves, flowers.
q - do you clean windows?
A – Our pressure cleaning agents clean the exterior of windows very well leaving them streak-free. That said, we do not clean inside windows by hand – we can recommend a very reputable window cleaning company that specializes in window cleaning only.
Q - Do you clean awnings?
A – We soft wash awnings that are not sun damaged.
q - Do you move our furniture away from the house before a pressure wash? move furniture back? Do you clean furniture?
A – We move furniture away and back as long as they aren’t extremely heavy. We can pressure wash all exterior deck, patio furniture except for Teak. For Teak we recommend a teak specialist which we can refer you to.
Q - Any other pressure washing questions?
A – If you have a specific question about our pressure washing services that isn’t covered in our FAQ we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us via our contact form, or call, text us at 404.428.9264