The honest version of what goes on your house, why "chemical-free" is a marketing word rather than a method, and the protection steps that decide whether your beds come through it.
Diluted bleach and soap. That is the honest description of what cleans the outside of almost every house in the Triangle and Johnston County, and a company that will not say so plainly is managing you rather than informing you.
The longer version is worth reading, because the details are where the risk to your landscaping actually lives, and because the difference between a careful crew and a careless one is entirely in those details rather than in the bottle.
| Component | What it is | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium hypochlorite | The active ingredient in household bleach, bought at higher strength and diluted down on the truck | Kills the algae, mildew, mold, and lichen. This is the part that makes the clean last rather than making the wall look wet. |
| Surfactant | A soap, essentially | Lowers surface tension so the solution clings to a vertical wall instead of running straight to the ground. Also lifts dirt so the rinse carries it away. |
| Water | Most of the volume | A house wash mix is overwhelmingly water. A roof mix is stronger than a siding mix, and a siding mix is weaker than what is under your kitchen sink. |
| Specialty products | Oxalic or citric acid for rust, a dedicated oxidation remover, a wood-safe brightener, a degreaser | Used only where the problem calls for it. Rust and oxidation do not respond to the standard mix at all. |
Concentration is the whole story. A soft wash mix hitting your siding is typically a small fraction of the strength of the jug in the laundry aisle, and it is rinsed off within minutes rather than left to sit.
Because the green on a north-facing wall is alive. It has roots into the surface texture, and rinsing it removes the visible top layer while leaving the organism in place. The wall looks clean for about six weeks and then comes back darker, because you fed it water and removed its competition.
That is the real reason soft washing beats pressure on a wall. The solution kills the growth. Force only knocks off what is loose.
You will see exterior cleaning advertised as chemical-free. Sometimes that means a plant-derived surfactant and no biocide, which cleans dirt and does not kill algae. Sometimes it means the company uses hypochlorite and does not like the word. Ask which, and ask what happens to the growth.
Almost never by a properly diluted mix touching a leaf. Nearly always by one of these four.
A dry leaf absorbs. A leaf already saturated with clean water cannot take much more on board, which is why pre-wetting is not a courtesy step, it is the main protection.
Solution that sits on foliage in the sun for twenty minutes is a different event from solution that is rinsed off in two. The crew that stops to rinse mid-wall is protecting your azaleas.
Water runs downhill and pools where the grade says it will. Beds at the low corner of a house take everything from the whole elevation, and those are the ones that show damage a week later.
Roof mixes are considerably stronger than wall mixes. A roof wash with careless downspout control puts that stronger mix straight into a bed.
This is the part of the job worth asking about, and it is the part nobody asks about. Around Flowers Plantation and the newer Clayton neighborhoods, foundation beds sit tight against the siding with young plantings in them, and the pre-wet step is the difference between a good spring and a bad one.
Keep pets and children inside while the crew is working, for the same reason you would keep them away from any work with hoses, ladders, and equipment moving around. Once the surfaces have been rinsed and dried, which is usually a couple of hours on a normal day, everybody can go back out.
Bowls, toys, and anything a dog chews should come inside first. Fish ponds and rain barrels want covering and disconnecting. If you grow vegetables against the house, tell us before we arrive: we will cover them properly or work around that stretch of wall, and either is easier than an apology.
Well water is worth a mention. Plenty of properties out toward Archers Lodge and Corinth Holders run on a well, and if yours is close to the work we will talk about it rather than assume.
We do not pour concentrate on anything. We do not treat a wall and leave it to sit while we go and do the driveway. We do not run a roof wash without controlling where the downspouts discharge, and we do not use the standard mix on rust, artillery fungus, or oxidation, because it does not work on any of them and pretending otherwise just wastes your afternoon.
If you have a specific concern, a rare plant, a koi pond, a garden you have spent three years on, say so when you book. Call (919) 698-3669 and we will plan the day around it.
“Same-day service and the whole property looks better. Will use them every year.”
“They brought the color back on our vinyl siding after another company left it chalky. Night and day.”
“They transformed the outside of our house. The siding looks brand new and they were careful around all my flower beds.”
Aluminum chalks for a different reason than vinyl does, and the decision at the end is different too. How to test what you have, what a restoration wash actually achieves, and when paint is the honest answer.
Read the guide →HOAWhat a multifamily property actually needs cleaned, how often, and why the surfaces that generate complaints are almost never the ones in the budget.
Read the guide →BookingWhere the truck parks, whose water we use, how long it takes, whether you need to be home, and the short list of things to move, close, or unplug before we get there.
Read the guide →We fly the roofline and show you the footage on the spot. You see your own gutters, joints, and downspouts on the screen instead of taking our word for it. It costs nothing and you are not committing to the cleaning.
Free for homes and businesses across the Triangle and Johnston County. No obligation to book any work afterwards.
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