Fences, Retaining Walls & Pool Surrounds

That is efflorescence, not dirt or mold. Water moving through block and mortar dissolves mineral salts, carries them to the surface and evaporates, leaving the salt behind as a white bloom.

Because it is mineral rather than organic, the treatments that kill algae do nothing to it, and it can return if the drainage behind the wall does not change. I will tell you which one you are looking at when I see it.

It should not be. Vinyl chalks as it oxidizes in the sun, and high pressure drives that chalking unevenly and can crack panels that have gone brittle. The green algae on the shaded side comes off readily with a low-pressure softwash instead.

That green side is usually the whole reason people call. It also faces the neighbor, so it is the side you never look at.

Not at the pressure wood should be cleaned at. High pressure tears the surface fibers loose so boards dry fuzzy and splintered, which looks worse than the dirt did and holds grime afterward.

Wood gets low pressure worked along the grain, or a solution and a gentle rinse. That matters even more if you plan to stain or seal it, because furred wood takes stain blotchily.

Yes, at low pressure. Screening stretches and tears under force and spline pops out of the track, so cages get a solution and a gentle rinse. The frame, screens and deck inside usually want doing at once, since a screened area holds humidity and grows algae faster than an open patio.

The small things people notice daily: garage doors, the trash can pad, the AC pad, mailbox posts, garden walls, front steps, and the entry column and porch ceiling. They add very little time when the equipment is already set up, so mention them when I quote rather than after.

Usually yes, and it is the most efficient way to do it. The cage and screens get softwashed while the deck is cleaned at whatever pressure the surface calls for — pavers, travertine and concrete each want something different. Surface details are on the patio and deck page.