Soft Washing in South Riding, VA

Clearly Amazing soft washes house exteriors, roofs, fences, decks, porch ceilings and screens across South Riding, working from our Northern Virginia office on Trade Center Place in Sterling. Soft washing is low pressure plus a cleaning solution that kills growth at the root and rinses it away, instead of pressure that strips it off along with some of the surface. About half the houses here went up between 2000 and 2009 and most of the rest in the decade after, and on streets that young the dark streaking shows up in a very predictable place.

Call (703) 723-7770 for a free on-site estimate.

Why the north wall goes first here

South Riding was farmland until the mid-1990s. South Riding Proprietary, the association governing it, was incorporated in January 1995, and the median construction year across its roughly 10,510 housing units is 2006. Every tree on these lots went in with the houses. Regionally the mix runs to oak, tulip poplar, sweetgum and maple on former-agricultural Piedmont soil, but a maple planted in 2004 throws a fraction of the shadow the same species throws over a sixty-year-old street.

That changes where the growth is. In an older neighborhood with heavy canopy the algae film follows the shade. In South Riding it follows the compass. North and northeast elevations that never get direct sun, the shaded face of a board fence, the ceiling of a covered porch, the wall behind a deck: those go first and go worst, while the sunny elevation twenty feet away looks almost untouched. People here describe it as one bad wall rather than a dirty house, which is exactly what it is.

The climate does the rest. The Dulles station covering this area records roughly 43.2 inches of precipitation a year, with hot humid summers. Warm and repeatedly wet is what the algae that streaks siding and roofs wants. It is not dirt, and we use solution and dwell time because pressure takes off the visible part and leaves the rooted part behind.

Where your rinse water goes in South Riding

Worth knowing before any soft wash, because a solution job produces runoff. South Riding sits at about 282 feet, lower than the eastern Loudoun communities north of it, and it drains the opposite way from them. Water leaving these lots goes into Elklick Run, a south-flowing tributary of Cub Run, part of the Bull Run watershed, reaching the Occoquan River. Ashburn, Brambleton and Lansdowne all drain north to the Potomac. South Riding does not.

That means beds and lawn are wetted down to protect them, so anything reaching them is heavily diluted. We mix what the surface needs rather than making up a batch and using it up, and where the grading allows the rinse goes onto planting instead of the nearest storm inlet. It is a fair question to put to any contractor you are considering, us included.

Call (703) 723-7770 for a free on-site estimate in South Riding, or request one online.

What the job involves

Inspect. We walk the house and identify what is growing and on what: vinyl and trim, the fence line, decking, porch ceilings, screens, roof slopes. This is the practical check too: windows closed, gaps and dryer vents noted, failing seals flagged. Growth on a north elevation is a different job from growth on a roof slope, and both may be on your list.

Clean. Solution goes on at low pressure and is given time to work before anything is rinsed. On a roof this is not optional: ARMA recommends a low-pressure bleach-solution rinse and warns never to pressure wash an asphalt roof, and GAF, CertainTeed and Owens Corning all advise against power washing asphalt shingles. On walls, low pressure is what keeps water from being driven up behind the laps.

Detail. The finish pass is by hand around light fixtures, shutters, downspout straps and the foundation line, where a machine-only wash leaves a visible border. Plantings get their second rinse here. Then we walk it with you and say what did not come out, which on twenty-year-old siding is usually chalking rather than growth. Washing does not restore faded vinyl.

Areas we cover in South Riding

All of South Riding, governed as one community by South Riding Proprietary, whose members take on covenant obligations automatically when they buy. Within it, the one named sub-association we deal with regularly is South Village, 429 single-family homes and townhomes built in the early 2000s with its own HOA. South Riding does not publish a village system the way some Loudoun communities do, so just give us the address.

A note on mail. South Riding is in Loudoun County, but many addresses here read Chantilly, VA 20152, and the community sits just south of US Route 50 near Arcola and Dulles South. The South Riding Golf Club has been here since 1997. If your mail says Chantilly and your association says South Riding, it is the same place to us. We serve the wider Loudoun County and Fairfax County area from Sterling.

We also quote association and common-area soft washing: clubhouse and pool-house exteriors, community fencing, shade structures.

When to schedule in South Riding

Late spring through early October is the ideal window. Warm surfaces let the solution dwell properly instead of drying on contact, and everything dries fully afterward. Regional tree pollen starts in early March and peaks through April and May, so June bookings are popular for the simple reason that the yellow film has finished falling.

Other times of year work too, and people book them for good reasons. March and April suit anyone listing a house, anyone with a date from the association, or anyone who has spent the winter looking at a black-streaked north wall. Late fall clears the growth before the dark months. Winter is workable on the mild dry days Northern Virginia gets plenty of, and scheduling is easier then than in May.

The right frame is maintenance. Algae comes back, here and everywhere with humid summers, because it is a living thing responding to the climate rather than a stain that was cleaned badly. Most houses here settle into a two-to-three-year cycle on siding, which keeps growth from reaching the point where treatment has to be heavy. It belongs next to gutter clearing on the list, not in the category of a repair.

Questions South Riding customers ask

There are black streaks running down my roof. Is soft washing actually strong enough?
Yes, and it is what the industry guidance points to. ARMA recommends a low-pressure bleach-solution rinse and warns never to pressure wash an asphalt roof. The solution kills the growth and the rinse carries it off; pressure would take granules with it. Roof work is quoted separately; see our roof cleaning page.

My driveway and patio are stained too. Same visit?
Same visit, different method. Concrete and pavers take real pressure, so that is pressure washing rather than soft washing. Most properties here end up with both on one quote, so ask for the whole list at the estimate.

Will the solution damage my lawn, my beds, or the stream behind the house?
Beds and lawn are wetted to protect them, which is the part that matters. We mix what the surface needs rather than a standard batch, and on lots near the Elklick Run corridor we plan the runoff route first. If you have anything unusual planted, say so and we will cover it or work around it.

How often does this need doing?
Most houses here run every two to three years on the siding, sooner on the north side and the shaded fence. The point of a cycle is that each wash stays light. A wall left for a decade takes more solution, more time and more care than the same wall kept on a rhythm.

Can I just do it myself with a hose attachment?
On a fence, a shed, or anything you can reach from the ground, yes. The hard part is height, not chemistry. Second-story siding means a ladder on wet footing with a hose pulling at you, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates more than 164,000 emergency-room-treated ladder injuries a year. Roofs are worse, because walking a shingle slope wet with solution is how people get hurt.

Clearly Amazing — Northern Virginia
43676 Trade Center Place, Suite 140, Sterling, VA 20166
(703) 723-7770

Request a free estimate · Soft washing across Northern Virginia · How our roof cleaning works