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Soft washing for homes
Soft washing is not a gentler pressure wash. It is a different job: a biodegradable treatment applied at garden-hose pressure that kills mould, algae and lichen at the root, so the growth does not come straight back. On render, paint, Colorbond and roof tiles it is the only correct method.
The right method
Soft washing applies a dilute sodium hypochlorite solution with a surfactant at roughly garden-hose pressure. The cleaning is done by the chemistry, not by force. The surfactant holds the solution on a vertical surface long enough to work, the treatment kills the mould, algae and lichen outright, and the rinse carries the dead growth away. Nothing is scrubbed, blasted or abraded.
The growth you can see is only the top of it. Blasting removes what is visible and leaves the root structure behind, which is why a high-pressure wash is usually back to green within months. A soft wash kills it right through, so regrowth starts from nothing rather than from a surviving colony. That is the entire difference, and it is why the result lasts years instead of weeks.
High pressure on a rendered or painted wall strips the top coat, drives water behind weatherboards and through window seals, and leaves a surface that only looks clean for a season. On a concrete tile roof it strips the factory coating and exposes the aggregate, which then holds moss better than it did before. Matching the method to the material is the whole job.
Being clear about scope
Soft wash surfaces: render and texture coat, painted brick, face brick, weatherboard, fibro, Colorbond and most cladding. Eaves, soffits, fascias and the outside of gutters. Concrete tile, terracotta and Colorbond roofs. Fences, gates, garage doors, pergolas, shade sails and outdoor structures. Shed walls and water tank exteriors.
Pressure, not soft wash: concrete driveways, paths, patios, retaining walls and hard stands. Anything where the surface is hard enough to take force and the problem is dirt rather than living growth. Most properties need both methods, on different parts of the same job.
Being clear about that upfront saves everyone a wasted quote.
Where we do most of it
Aspect, elevation and shade decide how fast a house goes green, and they vary a lot across the region.
Highfields, Cawdor, Kleinton, Meringandan, Cabarlah, Hampton. Higher, colder and wetter — heavy fog, long dews and hard frosts. Render and roofs up here go green faster than anywhere else we work.
Oakey, Kingsthorpe, Wellcamp, Charlton, Westbrook. Drier and more exposed, with agricultural dust off the Downs. Less organic growth, more dust film on walls, windows and panels.
Wyreema, Cambooya, Preston, Vale View, Hodgson Vale. Mixed. Sheltered, treed blocks hold moisture and grow lichen; open ones stay cleaner for far longer.
Withcott, Murphys Creek, Helidon, Grantham, Gatton. Warmer and more humid below the range — mould on render is the main problem here rather than lichen.
Pricing
Every quote starts with a free look at the property — photos are usually enough.
Soft wash first, always — high pressure only where the surface can genuinely take it. The whole exterior finished, including eaves, soffits and the paving below, not just the walls you can see from the street. Working at Heights certified for double-storey, roof and gutter work. Police-checked crew and full insurance, certificates on request. Reliable scheduling with an ETA the day before and an on-the-way message on the day. We service the full area — outer blocks aren't an afterthought.
Houses that have got away
If your place has got away from you, that's normal and we're not fazed by it. A couple of wet years, a shaded block, a rental between tenants, or a house you don't live in — exteriors get out of hand.
A first wash on heavy growth takes longer and sometimes needs two passes — a treatment, dwell time, then a second application on the worst areas rather than forcing it in one hit. That gives a far better result than turning the pressure up. Once it's back under control it drops to standard maintenance pricing.
Treatment runoff is diluted and directed away from garden beds and stormwater. Plants near the work get wet down before we start and rinsed again after, which is what actually protects them.
Where a wash brings down heavy debris — leaf litter out of gutters, moss off a roof — we clear it up and take it away rather than leaving it behind on your grounds.
How often
Not on a fixed calendar. Growth on a house is uneven — the shaded south and east walls go green while the north and west stay clean for years — so a blanket schedule either wastes your money or leaves it far too long.
Most Toowoomba homes need a full soft wash every two to three years. Shaded, treed or south-facing blocks are closer to eighteen months; open, sunny blocks can stretch to four or five years.
At elevation — Highfields, Cabarlah, Hampton, Cawdor — fog sits longer and the dew takes until mid-morning to burn off. Those homes need it noticeably more often than places down on the flat.
We'll tell you honestly when your place actually needs doing, rather than putting you on a cycle that suits us.
Common questions
Render, painted and face brick, weatherboard, fibro, Colorbond and most cladding. Roofs too — tile, Colorbond and cement. If you're not sure what your walls are, send a photo and we'll tell you.
No. Soft washing uses low pressure — not much more than a garden hose — and lets the treatment do the work. High pressure is what damages paint and render, which is exactly why we don't use it on them.
Most Toowoomba homes every two to three years. Shaded and south-facing walls closer to eighteen months, open sunny blocks longer. We'll tell you when yours actually needs it.
No separate travel fee within our service area. Distance is factored into the quote, and because we run scheduled rounds by area, a property on an existing route is priced the same as anywhere else.
Plants near the work are wet down before we start and rinsed again afterwards, and runoff is diluted and directed away from beds and stormwater. That's standard, not an extra.
Yes — moss, lichen and algae on tile, Colorbond and cement roofs, using the same soft wash approach. High pressure on a tile roof breaks the glaze and forces water under the tiles, so we don't do it.
A dilute sodium hypochlorite solution with a surfactant, which is the standard professional soft wash chemistry worldwide. It kills the mould and algae rather than removing the visible part and leaving the roots, which is why a soft wash lasts years and a pressure blast lasts months. It is rinsed thoroughly, breaks down quickly, and we pre-wet and post-rinse plants along the wall line. More on soft wash versus pressure wash.
On most Toowoomba homes, two to three years on the sunny walls and 18 months to two years on the shaded southern side. Because the treatment kills growth at the root rather than knocking the top off, regrowth starts from nothing rather than from a surviving colony. Houses under heavy tree cover or backing onto bush are at the shorter end of that range.
Yes. Second storeys are reached with extension equipment from the ground wherever possible, which keeps ladders off your garden beds and keeps our crew off yours. Where height access is genuinely required, our crew are Working at Heights certified and the job is covered by $20 million public liability.
$20 million public liability, Working at Heights certification, police-checked crew and a signed safe work method statement. Certificates of currency are available on request and go out with every commercial and strata quote automatically. No other exterior cleaning business in Toowoomba publishes a cover figure. See our compliance and insurance documents.
It works on all three, but lichen behaves differently. Mould and algae rinse off on the day. Lichen puts down a holdfast bonded into the surface, so the treatment kills it but the dead crust weathers away over the following weeks rather than lifting immediately. On a Toowoomba roof that usually means the best result shows up two to three months after the visit, not the same afternoon.
No, and it is worth being clear about that. Soft washing kills living growth. Rust bleed, paint overspray, builder's render splatter and ingrained red Ferrosol staining are not biological, so they need a different treatment or, on hard surfaces, pressure cleaning. We will tell you at quote stage which of your marks will go and which will not.
Yes, and it is the only method we will use there. Panels are masked and rinsed while the roof is treated, and we clean them properly at the same visit. High pressure near a panel array risks the frame seals and the junction box, which is exactly why roof cleaning and solar panel cleaning belong in one booking.
Not sure what your walls are made of? Send us photos and we'll tell you.
Get in touch with James
The size of the house, how long since it was last done, and what access is like down the sides — that's what changes a house wash price. Tell us those three things and we'll come back with a clear figure.
Just the driveway and paths? See pressure cleaning.