Low-pressure soft washing for wooded, marsh-side Okatie homes, including the new builds that greened up sooner than anyone expected.
The most common call we get from Okatie is some version of the same sentence: the house is only a few years old, so why does it look like this already.
The answer is that mold and algae do not care how new the siding is. They care whether it stays wet. Okatie lots are wooded, the rivers and marsh hold humidity late into the evening, and a north or east elevation under canopy can go weeks in summer without properly drying out. That is ideal growing conditions regardless of whether the Hardie went on in 1998 or 2022. A newer house in the shade will often green up faster than an older house in the open.
On most Okatie properties we clean, one elevation is dramatically worse than the other three, and it is nearly always the one facing the marsh or the water. There is more moisture in the air on that side, less direct sun, and often less breeze once the trees mature.
That matters for how you should think about the job. Washing only the front of the house, which is what people ask for when they are trying to save money, leaves the worst elevation untouched and the growth there seeds the rest again. If budget is the constraint, it is better to do the whole house less often than half the house twice as often.
Siding, soffits, fascia, trim, shutters, the exterior of the gutters and the eaves. We pre-wet the plants and ground, apply a biodegradable solution at low pressure, let the chemistry work, and rinse. No high pressure goes near the siding, because pressure is what forces water behind it and damages the surface.
On wooded lots we spend longer on the prep than most people expect. The planting at the drip line of mature trees is usually the oldest and least replaceable thing in the yard, and it gets wet before, during and after.
Every 6 to 9 months for most Okatie homes, which is more often than the once-a-year that suits an open lot. Shade and marsh humidity are the reason. Houses in the more open parts of the area can usually stretch to a year.
Because algae responds to moisture and shade rather than to age. Wooded, marsh-side lots keep siding damp for long stretches, and that is all it takes. It says nothing about the quality of the build.
We can, but we will usually suggest otherwise. On Okatie properties the worst elevation is nearly always the marsh or water side, and leaving it untreated means the growth seeds the clean sides again. Doing the whole house less often is better value than doing half of it twice as often.
Yes. The solution is biodegradable and heavily diluted by the rinse, and the volumes involved are small. Tell us where your well head and drain field are when we arrive and we will keep runoff away from them.
Yes, plus Berkeley Hall and the properties along the Okatie Highway. Sun City and Hardeeville addresses just up the road are welcome too.
How soft washing removes black streaks without harming shingles.
Streak-free glass inside and out.
Everything we clean around Okatie and the river communities.
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