House washing in Raeford

Clay staining is a different problem to algae

Hoke County ground is heavy red clay, and it does not behave like the sandier soil closer to Fayetteville. Rain hits bare ground, splashes up onto the bottom courses of siding and the skirting, then the sun bakes it in. Do that for two or three seasons and the bottom metre of the wall is no longer dirty, it is stained.

The tell is that it does not rinse. Green algae will lighten under a hose; clay will not move at all, because it is a pigment sitting in the surface texture rather than a film on top of it. That needs the right solution and enough dwell time, at pressure low enough that the panel survives the process.

Well water leaves iron behind

A lot of Raeford properties are on a well, and well water carries iron and hardness that town water does not. Run an irrigation head against a wall for a few seasons and you get two more marks that are not dirt: orange rust bloom below the spray line, and a chalky white haze where minerals have dried on the surface.

Neither responds to a general house wash. They are treated as their own step, with a different product. If you have orange streaking under a hose bib, below a window, or in an arc across the siding where a sprinkler reaches, say so when you call so it is on the truck that day.

Bigger walls and more of them

Property out here tends to have more than a house on it. A shop, a barn, a carport, a metal outbuilding. Metal washes differently from vinyl, and it is worth quoting together because the setup and the water haul are the same whether one building gets done or four.

That is also the honest way to make a longer drive worth it for both sides. A whole property in one visit costs less per surface than the same surfaces done across separate trips.

What is included

• Siding top to bottom, with extra attention on the splash zone where clay collects
• Soffits, fascia and eaves
• Window exteriors and frames rinsed as part of the wash
• Skirting and foundation faces, which take the worst of the splash-up
• Mineral staining handled as a separate step where present

Long concrete is usually the other half of the job out here, covered on driveway cleaning in Raeford. Town background is on the Raeford page.