When you need to clean up your home or business, you may hear a couple of terms being tossed about: soft wash and power wash or pressure wash. But what’s the difference between these two types of washing and why would you want to use one over the other on different surfaces? In this article, we’ll get into the differences between soft wash and power wash services for Rochester residents and in which situations you’d want to switch from one to the other.
What’s the Difference Between Soft Wash vs Power Wash?
Pressure
Of course, the most obvious difference between these two cleaning modalities is the amount of pressure that is used. This is controlled between a combination of system pressure in the equipment and the type of nozzles that are being used, which can further focus or diffuse the water to change the pressure.
Soft wash processes use gentle pressure to carefully lift dirt away from the surface. It may not act as quickly or effectively as higher pressure, but it also protects the item being washed, preventing additional damage. Generally speaking, soft wash pressure provides additional benefits beyond what you can achieve with scrubbing and using household cleaners.
Getting pressure or power wash for your Rochester home requires the use of high water pressure combined with high-pressure nozzles to strip the dirt or debris away from the item being cleaned. However, this high pressure can also cause damage to the item that is being cleaned.
Cleaning Solutions
Though you have the option of using cleaning solutions in either situation, these solutions are required in soft washing to provide additional cleaning power to the softer water pressure. This detergent makes it easier to get underneath the dirt and debris, loosening them from the surface of the item being cleaned.
By comparison, pressure or power washing often doesn’t require any detergent or cleaning solutions at all, though they can be added for more effective cleaning processes. In this case, the high pressure of the water can often get under the dirt and debris to remove it.
Type of Cleaning
When you need to do a simple cleaning session of an item that is regularly cleaned or that will benefit from the addition of a cleaning solution in the process, soft washing often works better, rinsing off any dirt or debris.
However, if the item hasn’t been cleaned in a while or has been allowed to become very dirty, requiring a deep cleaning, power or pressure washing may be a better bet. This is because the higher pressure can dig further into the surface to remove debris, stains, and dirt.
Delicacy of Item Cleaned
Finally, the item that you’re cleaning should be taken into account. For many softer items, fragile items, or items which may not react well to pressure, soft washing should be used for your process. In some cases, you can choose to change over to pressure washing if the item seems to be bearing up well to the cleaning process.
By comparison, you’ll want to avoid using power or pressure washing on soft or delicate items, as the high pressure of the water can cause significant damage to these items. For example, at All Clean, we recommend soft washing for roofs and for delicate woodwork, while recommending power washing for brick, pavement, strong siding, and other materials of a more durable nature.
Surrounding Environment
The other element to consider is the area around the item being washed. For example, if you’re going to be working around painted surfaces, plants, or wood finishes, you may want to stick with soft washing for your Rochester property as it will not damage these surfaces at the same time that deeper cleaning is going on.
By comparison, pressure washing requires that you take into account those items and adjust pressure accordingly. As an example, you don’t want to use high pressure on your brickwork if you’ll have to work around more delicate plants.
As you can see, though power washing typically delivers stronger results, there are many situations where you may want to use a soft wash to protect the delicate or less durable item that you’re washing. If you’re considering having a washing service handle your home or business cleaning needs, working with one business that handles both types of washing techniques will give you a one-stop shop with a company who understands the very important difference between them.
At All Clean Power Wash in Rochester, we offer soft wash and power wash pressure washing services while providing sound advice on which one is the best option for your specific situation. Why not give us a call today with any questions or to schedule a consultation?
