Do you happen to know the difference between pressure wash vs soft wash? Are you aware of when you should be using each of these? 

The biggest difference between the two was soft washing is a light pressure system and pressure washing is a high-pressure system. 

Soft Washing

Soft washing is a system where you use low pressure (1000psi or lower) and specialty cleaners (must be biodegradable) to remove items like mildew, bacteria, algae and other stains from building exteriors and roofs. You can also use this method with decks, patios, siding, fences, stucco and coquina and screens. 

Can you apply soft washing with a pressure washer? Yes. You just add an adjustable pressure setting and/or a soft washing tip, with a detergent tank (one that uses hot water). 

Pros:

1. Soft washing will remove items like mold, algae, pollen, etc without damaging your home or killing your plants/garden around you. 
2. Soft washing is the safest and thorough cleaning method. 
3. Maintains paint and masonry, longer.

Cons: 

1. You must have the correct mixture, application and usage of the cleaners because it can end up damaging the landscape/plants around the area. 
2. Not effective for cleaning concrete or areas that require a higher pressure to get deep down into an area. 
3. You have to buy additional and specialty adapters for your pressure washer to use this method. 

Pressure Washing

When pressure washing, you are using high-pressure water (2,500 PSI or more) and little cleanser to get items off of a surface. You can use the pressure washing method with items like:

• Commercial: building exterior, dumpster areas, rooftops, parking structures, heavy equipment, and graffiti removal.
• Residential: building exterior, parking garages/driveways, sidewalks/walkways, stairway breezeways, rain gutters, dumpster areas, graffiti removal, bird and bee nest removal. 
• Restaurants: range hoods, dumpster areas, sidewalks/entryways, building exterior, appliances, and floors

Pros:

• It is an effective way to get the hardest items off a surface. With the high pressure it’s able to get deep into the surface to get off any dirt, mold, paint, etc. 
• You don’t NEED detergent to clean.

Cons:

• Risk to damaging items like siding and roofs is high. 
• It is a more dangerous method for the person doing the pressure washing.
• It can remove paint from wood and destroy window screen.

Now you know the difference between pressure wash vs soft wash. We hope this post was helpful in informing you what the best cleaning method is for you!

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