Washing your house exterior yourself is a different job to cleaning a driveway. You're dealing with paint, render, cladding and trim — surfaces that can be genuinely damaged by the wrong approach, rather than just needing a bit more elbow grease. Here's what's worth knowing before you get started.
Why High Pressure Isn't the Right Tool for House Exteriors
A standard high-pressure nozzle can force water behind weatherboard and cladding, strip paint, and etch older render. It's a common cause of homeowners doing more harm than good — the house looks clean for a week, then paint starts peeling or water damage shows up weeks later. For anything painted, rendered, or clad, low-pressure soft washing is the safer approach.
What Soft Washing Actually Involves
Soft washing uses low water pressure combined with a biodegradable cleaning treatment that's left to sit and break down mould, algae and grime at the surface, then rinsed off. It's slower than blasting with high pressure, but it gets a genuinely cleaner result without the risk of damage.
Safety Considerations
Two-storey homes mean ladder work, which carries real fall risk if you're not experienced with it. Cleaning chemicals need to be handled and diluted correctly, and you'll want to protect garden beds and plants from any runoff. None of this is impossible to manage yourself, but it's worth being honest about before committing a weekend to it.
When DIY Makes Sense (and When It Doesn't)
A single-storey home with easy ground-level access and mild surface grime is a reasonable DIY job if you take a soft-wash approach. Two-storey homes, delicate or aging render, heavy mould coverage, or anywhere you'd need a ladder against the gutter line are situations where it's genuinely worth getting a professional in. Our soft washing vs pressure washing guide goes into more detail on which method suits which surface.
Get a Free Quote
If you'd rather leave it to us, quoting is easy — send a call or a few photos and we'll get back to you with a free, no-obligation quote. We carry $20M public liability insurance and back every job with a workmanship guarantee. Get in touch today.