The Green On Your Siding Is Alive. We Kill It.
Soft washing for Piqua houses — low pressure, the right detergent, and a wall that stays clean for a year and a half instead of a season. No force anywhere near your paint, brick or shingles.
Chemistry, Not Force
Pressure washing cleans by hitting a surface hard enough to knock things off it. That works on concrete. On the side of a house it is the wrong tool, and in Piqua's older neighborhoods it is the wrong tool on a lot of houses that cannot take it.
Soft washing runs at about the pressure of a strong garden hose — roughly 100 to 500 PSI at the wall, against 1,500 to 4,000 for pressure washing. The cleaning is done by a biodegradable detergent that is left to dwell, then rinsed. The water is only there to carry the solution on and wash it back off.
The difference shows up months later. What you see growing on siding is a living organism, and its root structure sits down in the pores of the surface. Blast the top off and the wall looks clean on the day and green again by the following spring. Kill it and the wall stays clean until something new lands on it.
What the Great Miami Does to Piqua Exteriors
Piqua grew up on the river and the canal, and the river is still setting the terms for what grows on the outside of a house here. Shade plus moisture is the entire recipe for algae, and homes on the older, tree-lined streets near the Great Miami and out toward Echo Hills green up noticeably faster than the same house would on an open lot in a new subdivision. It isn't a maintenance failure; it's a microclimate.
Downtown brick and old wood take chemistry, not force
Historic brick around Fort Piqua Plaza and the High Street blocks, plus a lot of pre-war housing with original wood and many layers of paint. A pressure wand on old painted clapboard forces water up behind the boards, where it has no way to dry, and it comes back out as blistering the following summer. Old mortar fails the same way under pressure. Everything in that category gets soft washed, no exceptions.
The mid-century ranch belt chalks, it doesn't stain
1950s–70s ranches with original aluminum siding, north of downtown and out toward Covington Avenue. That aluminum has chalked by now, and pressure washing it streaks it permanently. It gets detergent, dwell time and a gentle rinse instead.
What Gets Soft Washed
If force would damage it, it gets chemistry instead.
Chalked aluminum siding
The most common call in Piqua's ranch belt. Original aluminum oxidises into a white chalk, and pressure grinds it into streaks you cannot get back out. It needs a soak and a rinse.
Painted wood and clapboard
Pre-war housing near downtown and High Street. Low pressure only, and we keep the solution off bare wood and away from window glazing putty.
Historic brick and soft mortar
Anything pre-war around Fort Piqua Plaza. The mortar was made soft deliberately so the brick could move. Pressure scours it out of the joints and you do not get it back.
Asphalt shingle roofs
Black streaking is cyanobacteria, not dirt. Same low-pressure chemistry, no machine ever touching the shingle, no granule loss.
Vinyl siding
Common on the newer streets away from downtown. Still gets the low-pressure treatment — vinyl can crack or drive water behind the panels under too much force.
Decks, fences and pergolas
Cleaned without fuzzing the grain. If you are staining afterwards, the prep matters more than the stain. Read the deck guide →
What a Piqua House Wash Costs
Published ranges, not a number invented on your driveway.
A full house exterior soft wash runs $300–$600 for most Piqua homes, driven by square footage, how many stories and how much of the wall is actually reachable. A two-story downtown house with deep porch detail takes longer than a ranch of the same square footage, and the price reflects that.
If you are having the driveway or walks done at the same time, that is $150–$300 on its own, and bundling the two is cheaper than booking them separately because we are already on site with the water hooked up.
You can get a real number in under a minute with the estimator, or call and I will talk it through.
Before & After
Shot the day we did them. Our jobs, not stock photography.
The Rest of the Outside
Pressure Washing in Piqua
Driveways, walks and patios — the surfaces that do want force.
Pressure washing in Piqua →Window Cleaning in Piqua
Purified-water rinse so the hard water here doesn't spot the glass.
Window cleaning in Piqua →Everything We Do in Piqua
One page, every service, and how far out we book.
Piqua service area →Soft Wash vs. Pressure Wash
Which one your siding, roof or driveway actually needs.
Read the guide →Soft Washing in Piqua — FAQ
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, call or text (937) 777-9093.
Get a Piqua Price Without Waiting on a Callback
Four taps and a photo gives you an itemized ballpark. Or call and talk to the person who does the work.
A Team Contracting · Tipp City, OH · serving Piqua and Miami County · Mon–Sat 7am–7pm ET · Sun closed