Master the Art of Power Washing

Deck Cleaning, FAQ, Flatwork Cleaning, House Washing, Roof Cleaning

Tips & Tricks to Power Wash Like a Pro!

When it comes to power washing, mastering the techniques can make a significant difference in the results you achieve. Understanding how to use power washing equipment effectively and efficiently is key to getting that professional finish.

To power wash like a pro, remember to start with the right equipment and adjust the pressure settings according to the surface you are cleaning. Always follow recommended cleaning tips and techniques to avoid damaging any surfaces or causing injury.

Concrete & asphalt require more pressure.
Wood decks & painted surfaces require a gentle pressure. We recommend getting at least 12 to 15 inches away from the surface, spraying in even strokes in the exact direction of the wood grain.
Do not take pressure to vinyl siding, this will cause damage, instead use a soft washing method or call a professional.

While there are numerous power wash cleaning hacks out there, it’s important to distinguish between what works effectively and what could potentially harm surfaces. Knowing the do’s and don’ts of power washing can save you time, money, and frustration in the long run.

DO – Prep before you begin cleaning. Cover garden plants and shrubs. Remove all furniture, garden decorations, door mats etc. Note the location of windows and electrical boxes.
DON’T – Underestimate the power of the power washer.
DO – Work in a pattern. We recommend left to right, top to bottom.
DON’T – Use only one nozzle tip for every job. Each nozzle tip sprays differently.

When it comes to exterior cleaning, having expert tricks up your sleeve can make all the difference.

For more tips and tricks give us a follow on our social media: FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE & INSTAGRAM !

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Home Prep for Warmer Months

Before & After Photos, FAQ, House Washing

As the seasons change and spring arrives, it’s important for homeowners to conduct a thorough maintenance check to ensure their homes are in top shape. This spring maintenance checklist will guide you through essential tasks that will help protect your home’s exterior and prepare it for the warmer months ahead.

Maintenance Checklist

Firstly, it is crucial to check your air conditioning system. After a long winter, it’s necessary to ensure that your A/C system is functioning properly before the hot weather hits. Schedule a professional inspection and cleaning if needed, so you can enjoy cool indoor temperatures when summer arrives. Be sure to trim foliage and weeds around your A/C unit and also change your A/C filters indoors.

Next, remember to turn outside water on. Check your outside hoses & water pipes (spigots) for leaks.

Exterior cleaning should also be on your checklist. Winter weather can leave dirt, grime, and debris on your home’s exterior surfaces. Give them a thorough cleaning using appropriate tools and products for each surface type – from siding to roof cleaning– ensuring that they are looking fresh and vibrant for the season.

Paint Exterior Surfaces. Once you have diligently cleaned your outdoor surfaces such as decks, window trim, shutters, and other wood surfaces, it is important to consider the appropriate time to paint or stain them. Timing is crucial as it can significantly impact the durability and longevity of your newly refreshed surfaces.

Don’t forget about your sprinkler system! Prime it for use by checking all components such as valves, heads, and timers. Make sure everything is in proper working order before you start relying on it for lawn irrigation during the warmer months.

Springtime is also an ideal opportunity to perform seasonal maintenance on your lawn tools. Sharpen blades of lawnmowers, clean gardening equipment such as shears or pruners, and inspect any other tools you’ll be using throughout the season. Properly maintained tools will make yard work more efficient and enjoyable.

Lastly, tackle landscape/yard clean up. Remove fallen branches or debris from winter storms; clear out flower beds of dead foliage; trim shrubs or trees as needed; apply fresh mulch where necessary; and generally tidy up your outdoor spaces so they look inviting and well-maintained.

By following this spring maintenance checklist, you’ll ensure that your home’s exterior is in excellent condition and ready to handle the upcoming season. Take the necessary steps to protect your investment and enjoy a beautiful and functional outdoor space all spring long.

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How to Choose the Best Pressure Washing Service Provider for Your Home

FAQ, Uncategorized

As you look into different pressure washing companies, there are a few key things to consider in order to make sure you get the best possible service. This article will discuss what those factors are and how they can help you choose the right pressure washing service provider for your home.

- Most importantly, is the company that you are considering to hire licensed and insured? Ensuring that they are will ensure you are protected as well.

- Does the company have a website and is the website easy to navigate? Website’s provide credibility for businesses and are the first impression for potential clients.

- When contacting the company, are they responsive? It’s important to be able to easily contact your service provider in case of any changes or issues. If you find that it’s hard to get in contact with a provider for an estimate imagine how hard it will be to contact them if anything potentially goes wrong.

- Do they have experience? Experience is an important value as it shows knowledge, years of learning, and lots of practice!

To learn more about Allbrite Pressure Wash, Inc. CLICK HERE

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What Is Artillery Fungus?

FAQ

Our number one question that we get asked all the time is “What are those tiny black spots on our vinyl siding?” I’m here to tell you those tiny black spots are called “shotgun fungus” also known as Artillery Fungus. The scientific name is Sphaerobolus Stellatus.

This fungus gets it’s name because it expels from it’s fruiting bodies like a cannon. The mature spores can fire masses in the air up to several feet! This can reach second story vinyl siding – yikes! These tacky spores latch on to surfaces and are not only a nightmare but next to impossible to remove.

So where does this fungus come from exactly? The main culprit is infected mulch. Artillery fungus thrives in cooler, moist, and shady areas. If you notice artillery fungus on your siding, the infected mulch is not far away.

Unfortunately, Allbrite doesn’t have a recommendation for removal of the fungus. Pressure washing does not remove the spores. If a company tells you they can remove the spores RUN! That’s a fast track to damaged siding. The best solution is prevention. Especially if you have white vinyl siding. If you must have mulch by your siding, we do recommend to routinely check your mulch. If you start to notice black spots, remove the mulch immediately.

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Soft Washing vs. Pressure Washing

FAQ, House Washing, Roof Cleaning

What is the difference between soft washing and pressure washing?

It’s simple to nail down the difference between the two exterior cleaning methods.

Pressure washing is the use of high-pressure water spray on a surface to remove mold, mildew, dirt, grime, mud and more.
Soft washing is a low-pressure cleaning process with the use of chemicals on a surface to remove and break down lichen, mold, algae, bacteria, moss, dirt and more.

Soft washing is an alternative cleaning process for delicate surfaces such as roofs or vinyl siding. Allbrite’s team is trained in both pressure washing and soft washing methods to deliver you professional and knowledgeable service. To learn about the benefits of an Allbrite soft wash cleaning, click here.

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Benefits of Allbrite’s House Washing

FAQ, House Washing

When hiring a contractor it’s important to always get 3 standard estimates. Then compare each company and what they have to offer in order to make an informed decision based on your budget and needs as a consumer.

When comparing Allbrite’s house washing service to other contractors in Maryland remember that our house wash includes the brightening of gutters and the cleaning of the downspouts, the soffits, siding, flashing, windows (rinsed), and shutters if present.

Yes, you read that right — Gutter Brightening is included in our house wash!

We have a saying at Allbrite – think of your home as a face. The windows are the eyes and the gutters are the teeth. We aren’t going to wash the face of your home without brushing the teeth of it as well.

With each house washing service, we hand scrub every gutter to remove the oxidation staining which removes the black streaky lines and faded coloring.

There’s a difference between cleaning gutters and brightening gutters. We can clean your gutters the same way we will clean your siding (this will remove the mold, mildew and algae that’s on the face of the gutters) but that will not remove the black streaks.

Removing the black streaks is a separate process and requires more detail but it’s always included in our house washing service.

If you have any questions about our House Wash, check out our FAQ House Washing page.

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Benefits of our House Waxing

FAQ, House Washing, Siding Cleaning

Did you know we offered extended warranties?

Allbrite offers a product called Sparkle Brite which is a wax product. We apply this product to your home after the initial house washing. Sparkle Brite is warrantied for two years against any organic growth – mold, mildew, and algae from that initial cleaning.

About Sparkle Brite – it’s a polymer wax and makes the surface hydrophobic. “hy·dro·pho·bic – tending to repel or fail to mix with water.” Similar to getting your car waxed after a car wash.

Sparkle Brite might not be for everyone. However, if you have a north facing side of your house that gets green organic growth quickly, it might be beneficial for you.

If you opt to have our Sparkle Brite applied to your home and you notice organic growth within two years since we washed your house – WE WILL COME BACK TO CLEAN YOUR HOME AT NO CHARGE!

If you have any questions or would like to know more, please give us a call at 410.781.4044.
Our family is here to help!

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Fence Restoration Project Day 2

Cedar Home Restoration, FAQ

We’re back here at this fence we cleaned on Tuesday getting ready to stain/seal it. We are using a natural tone cwf-uv stain, you can find this at any local Home Depot.

We’ve done a little prep work, got some of the sanding done and laid tarps down along with tapping off other areas that need to be covered. The process of staining isn’t necessarily hard rather tedious. If you plan to stain your fence or wood surface yourself, it is much easier with two sets of hands. Order some pizza and grab a buddy to help you conquer your project.

Our process is to spray the first coat on the fence, back-brushing that coat into the wood so it’s fully saturated, then come back at a different angle and spray a second coat of sealant on. Finishing off with back-brushing that last coat of sealant into the wood. This particular fence project used 30 gallons of sealant by the time we were finished. Glad we were able to finish before July 4th for this customer!

What can we help you wash?

✅Soft Wash Roof Cleaning

✅Gutter Cleaning

✅House Washing

✅Deck Cleaning

✅Concrete Cleaning

Give us a call to get a jump start on your next outdoor project!

410-ALLBRITE (410.255.2748)

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Soft Wash vs Pressure Wash

Deck Cleaning, FAQ

Here’s a project we had in Ellicott City, Maryland doing a roof to road package. Roof to road means getting the whole exterior of your property cleaned up from all the nasty green, all the algae on all surfaces. We finished soft washing the roof and soft washing the patios prior to cleaning the fence.

This particular property had a huge wooden fence that goes all the way around the property. This fence hasn’t been stained or cleaned in at least 15 years. So naturally it looked old, gray and very much fainted. We are prepping the fence to be stained once everything is dry. We call this a restoration project! We plan to put a nice semi transparent, natural tone on the fence.

We get asked all the time – are you going to soft wash or pressure wash my fence? Well, it all depends on the outcome of the project. For instance, we will be sealing this fence so we will be pressure washing it to remove all of the organic growth, oxidation and bacteria. Ensuring the surface is cleaned and free of growth is important because it ensures the stain adhering properly to the surface, which in return helps your fence last longer. If we were to soft wash this fence we would have to use more soap, which equates to more chemicals, and could really dry out this wood. We don’t usually soft wash wood in general, however, it is an application method that can be used.

The process we are taking today is a three step process. 1. Apply soap, 2. Go over with a mild pressure and rinse everything, 3. Come back and apply a brightener, that brightener is going to bring the pH level of the wood back to 7 so it’s susceptible to take stain that way we know everything is prepared properly for when we come back to do the staining. It’s also going to brighten the wood. If you see now it’s old, gray and very faded. We are going to brighten this fence up.

If you have an outdoor space that could use some cleaning, give us a call to discuss your project. Our family is here to help!
410-ALLBRITE
(410.255.2748)

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Dark Streaks on Your Shingle Roof?

FAQ, Roof Cleaning

Whether you’re a homeowner or building owner, proper maintenance and regular inspection of your roof can greatly impact the longevity, performance, and reliability of your roofing system.

Have you recently noticed unsightly black streaks on your shingle roof? The black streaks are known as gloeocapsa magma (algae) which is transported through the air.

The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA) lays out a guide to algae discoloration and how to address it.