What a house wash is
The service most homeowners haven't bought yet
Most people who call us about a house wash open with the same confession: they are not totally sure what it is. Fair enough. A house wash is a soft wash of your home's entire exterior, every side, from under the gutters to the foundation line. Dirt, algae, mildew, cobwebs, wasp nests, construction dust, the gray film that slowly dulls your paint color: all of it comes off in a single 2 to 3 hour visit.
The part that surprises people is what a house wash is not. It is not pressure washing. Aiming real pressure at stucco or siding is how walls get etched, paint gets stripped, and water gets forced behind the siding. We have seen a pressure washer put a hole in a stucco wall. So the house never gets blasted. Instead, a diluted cleaning solution goes on at low pressure, sits and does the work, and rinses off gentler than a garden hose.
The method
How the soft wash works
Our crew applies a 1.5 to 2% sodium hypochlorite solution blended with a surfactant soap that helps it cling to the wall long enough to break down the growth. Before any of that, your plants, bushes, and grass get rinsed and protected, and they get rinsed again after. The wash moves top down, one side at a time, with the detergent never allowed to dry on the wall.
Every job starts with a walkthrough. We inspect all four sides with you, point out damage or oxidized paint before work begins, and finish with a second walkthrough where you flag anything to touch up. We make it right before we leave. Prefer no chemicals at all? We will wash with water only and be honest that the results will not match.
Every siding type
Stucco, vinyl, wood: each one fails differently
The reason a house wash is a chemistry job instead of a pressure job is that every siding material punishes force in its own way. The soft wash treats them all gently, and the walkthrough tells us which cautions apply to your walls.
Stucco
The dominant wall in Placer County, and the most pressure-sensitive. Real pressure etches the finish coat, and a wand held too close can genuinely put a hole in it. Stucco also grips dirt and spider webbing in its texture, which is exactly what a clinging detergent is for: the solution works into the texture, sits, and rinses clean.
Vinyl and painted siding
Vinyl cleans up beautifully with a soft wash, with one honest caution: older vinyl and sun-baked paint can oxidize into a chalky surface layer. Washing does not cause that, but removing the dirt can make existing oxidation easier to see. If your walls have it, you hear it from us at the walkthrough, not after.
Wood and fiber cement
Both clean well at low pressure. Wood grain furs up under force and fiber cement holds paint best when nobody blasts it, so the same rule applies everywhere: the detergent does the work, the water just carries it.
What you're removing
The gray film is not "just dirt"
What dulls a Placer County home is a layered mix: dry-season dust and pollen, irrigation overspray minerals, cobwebs and wasp nests under the eaves, and on the shaded sides, algae and mildew that treat your siding as a place to live. That last group is organic growth, which is why wiping or rinsing alone never quite fixes it. The detergent in a soft wash breaks the growth down instead of smearing it around.
The north-facing wall is usually the tell. It holds moisture longest, so it greens first, and it is the side homeowners see least. Walk around your house once with this in mind and you will know whether it is time.
What it costs
House washing prices
Pricing is set by home size:
| Home size | Price range |
|---|---|
| Small (under 1,500 sq ft) | $300–$450 |
| Mid-size (1,500–2,500 sq ft) | $450–$700 |
| Large / two-story (2,500–3,500 sq ft) | $650–$1,000 |
Current as of August 2026.
Condition decides where a home lands in its bracket. Years of buildup can take more than one pass per side, and that labor pushes a quote toward the top. Bundle a driveway or patio cleaning, a gutter cleaning, or a solar panel cleaning with your house wash and save roughly 10%; a roof soft wash pairs naturally too, since the streak-killing chemistry and the crew are already on site. The pressure washing cost calculator gives you an instant range, no email required.
How often
How often does a house need washing?
Every couple of years, for most homes. That is the honest answer, and we will not sell you a schedule you do not need. Homes near active construction collect dust faster, north-facing walls hold algae longer, and sprinkler overspray leaves stains sooner. The walkthrough tells us, and we tell you.
Where we wash
City pages with local detail
We serve Placer County and nearby communities across the greater Sacramento region. City-specific pricing and neighborhood details live on the local pages:
- House washing in Rocklin, CA
- House washing in Roseville, CA
- House washing in Granite Bay, CA
- House washing in Lincoln, CA
Granite Bay and Citrus Heights homeowners: same crew, same process. Reach out for a free estimate.
Common questions