Apex Mobile Pressure Washing Wants Your Brick House to Look Nice
Are you asking yourself, “What is the best way to wash brick houses?” Apex Mobile Pressure Washing has the answer. How your brick house or business structure looks on the outside can either invite or avert visitors. If the house is covered in algae or mildew, it also loses its curb appeal, which diminishes its resale value. But brick buildings aren’t like other structures; the wrong cleaning method can actually damage the mortar and sand holding them together! This is especially true with older houses and buildings at least 80 years old.
Power Washing Could Damage the Mortar and Sand of Older Brick Buildings
Brick is made from clay; brick houses and commercial buildings are put together with mortar and sand. This combination makes brick houses permeable, especially to high pressure from power washing. You don’t want the mortar and sand holding the bricks in your business property or house to loosen, right? Over time, this could make your brick building more susceptible to water intrusion or possible collapse. In our first blog, we explained that pressure washing equipment operates between 2,000 to 2,800 PSI. (PSI is pounds per square inch.) That’s a lot of pressure!
Older houses and buildings, especially those 80 years or older, can’t handle power washing pressure. Your local historical society can help you determine whether or not your older house or property could withstand the pressure. The safest way to protect the mortar and sand binding the bricks of your older house is soft washing.
Soft Washing is Safest for Brick Houses and Commercial Buildings
This isn’t to say you can’t power wash brick houses and commercial buildings. Professionals, like Apex Mobile Pressure Washing, can safely power wash brick structures, even older houses. That said, we highly recommend using soft washing to clean brick buildings. It’s just as effective but offers lower risk to the structure. Soft washing components operate at less than 500 PSI and clean with special, eco-friendly solutions that break down dirt. The lower PSI and special solution combination make soft washing gentler on brick houses and buildings than power washing.
At Apex Mobile Pressure Washing, we’re experts at power washing and soft washing all types of houses and commercial buildings. Call us at (207) 692-7597 for information about our cleaning services and follow us on Facebook for updates. We’d be happy to further answer the question, “What is the best way to wash brick houses?”
