The green and black streaking down the side of your house is not dirt. It is alive. That is the whole reason a garden hose and a stiff brush never fix it for long, and it is the reason the method matters more here than on any other surface we clean.
What Those Streaks Actually Are
Most of what discolors a house in this part of Missouri is algae and mildew — living organisms that root into the surface of siding, brick and stucco. They need three things: moisture, shade and something to hold onto. Southwest Missouri summers supply the humidity, and the north and east faces of your house supply the shade.
That is why the streaking is almost never even. Walk around your own house and you will usually find the shaded side is green while the sunny side still looks fine. Under eaves, behind downspouts, below gutter joints and anywhere runoff traces the same path every storm — those go first.
Here is why pressure alone does not solve it. Blasting the surface removes the visible layer and leaves the roots behind. The house looks clean for a few weeks, then the growth comes back from what was left, often faster than before because the surface has been roughed up. You have not cleaned it. You have mowed it.
Soft washing works the other way around. A cleaning solution is applied at low pressure and given time to actually kill the organism, then the whole surface is rinsed down. It takes longer and looks less dramatic while it is happening, but it is the reason the result holds.
Book Online
Pick a day and time that works for you and we will confirm it. If you would rather talk it through first, call or text 417-766-8666 — either works.
Request a Free Quote Today
Tell us about the property and we will come back to you with a price. No obligation, and no pressure if the number is not right for you.
How We Wash a House
- Walk the property first We look at what each surface actually is before anything gets turned on, and check for the things that cause problems later — loose trim, open weep holes, damaged caulk, outlets and light fixtures.
- Protect what needs protecting Plants, furniture, light fixtures and outlets. Landscaping gets rinsed before and after so nothing sits on it.
- Apply and let it dwell The solution needs time on the surface to kill the growth. Rushing this is exactly why some jobs look clean for a month and then go green again.
- Rinse the whole elevation Low pressure, top down, so nothing is driven up under the laps of the siding and nothing is left to dry on the surface.
- Walk it before we leave If a shaded corner needs a second pass, it gets one. Tell us while we are still there and we will put it right.
You do not need to be home. As long as we can reach an outside spigot and get to the sides of the house, we can do the whole job and send you photos when it is finished. Just say so when we confirm the booking.
What We Soft Wash, and What We Never Pressure Wash
- Vinyl siding — soft wash only. High pressure forces water up behind the panels, where it sits in the wall cavity and causes far more expensive problems than green streaks.
- Painted wood and board — soft wash. Pressure lifts paint.
- Brick — soft wash. Pressure erodes old mortar joints.
- Stucco and Dryvit — soft wash, always. Stucco is the least forgiving surface on a house.
- Soffits, fascia and eaves — included, and usually the dirtiest part.
- Gutter exteriors — the black vertical streaking on the face of white gutters comes off with the same wash.
Concrete, pavers and other hard flat surfaces are a different job with a different tool. That is pressure washing, and we do that too — often on the same visit.
How Often
Most houses in the Springfield area go about two years between soft washes. If your house is shaded most of the day, sits under trees, or backs up to woods, plan on yearly — the shaded elevations will be visibly green again long before the sunny ones.
The cheapest time to wash a house is before it looks bad. Once growth has been established for several seasons, it is harder to remove and more likely to have left staining behind.
Common Questions
Will soft washing damage my siding or landscaping?
No. Soft washing runs at roughly garden-hose pressure — the cleaning solution does the work, not the force. That is the entire point of the method, and it is why it is the correct approach for vinyl, brick, painted board and stucco. Plants and landscaping get rinsed before and after so nothing is left sitting on them.
How is this different from pressure washing?
Pressure washing uses force, and it is right for concrete, driveways and patios. Soft washing uses low pressure and a cleaning solution, and it is right for anything on the walls of your house. Using the high-pressure approach on siding is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes in this trade. If you want the full comparison, it is on our pressure washing page.
How long will it stay clean?
Because the growth is killed rather than knocked off, it takes considerably longer to come back than it would after a straight pressure rinse. Most Springfield-area homes look right for about two years. Heavily shaded houses and ones under trees are on a shorter cycle. We will tell you honestly which one yours is when we look at it.
Can you reach the second story?
Yes, from the ground. Reaching upper elevations without putting ladders through your flower beds is a normal part of this work.
What does house washing cost in Springfield?
It depends on the size of the house, how many stories, what the siding is and how much growth has built up. Send us the details or a couple of photos and we will give you a real number before anything starts. No work begins until you have that number and have said yes to it.
Can you do the windows and gutters at the same time?
Yes, and it is usually the sensible way to do it — one visit, one setup. Window cleaning and gutter cleaning pair naturally with a house wash. Mention it when you book and we will quote it all together.
Where We Wash Houses
Springfield, Missouri, and generally anywhere within about 30 miles:
- Springfield
- Nixa
- Ozark
- Republic
- Battlefield
- Rogersville
- Willard
- Strafford
- Fair Grove
- Pleasant Hope
- Ash Grove
- Walnut Grove
- Clever
- Highlandville
- Sparta
- Fordland
Not on the list but nearby? Call or text 417-766-8666 and we will tell you straight whether we can get there.