Short answer: your house gets soft washed at 100–300 PSI, not pressure washed. A cleaning solution kills the algae, sits for a few minutes, and rinses off. Typical Jacksonville cost is $225–$650, and it takes two to six hours depending on size.
Walk around the shaded side of almost any Jacksonville house and you will find the same thing: a greenish-grey film that starts near the ground and works upward, heaviest under the eaves and around the gutter line. Most people assume it is dirt and reach for a pressure washer.
It is not dirt. It is a living colony — algae, mildew and in shadier spots lichen — feeding on moisture and the organic film that settles on any outdoor surface. That distinction matters because dirt washes off, and living growth grows back unless you kill it. Blasting the visible layer away with a high-pressure wand removes the stain and leaves the biology, which is why DIY house washing so often looks great for six weeks and then looks worse than before.
Not sure what your property needs?
Send photos. We will tell you what we would do and roughly what it costs — even if the answer is that it can wait.
How soft washing actually works
Three things do the work, and water pressure is not one of them.
- A biocide — a dilute sodium hypochlorite solution that kills the algae, mould and mildew at the root rather than removing the visible layer.
- A surfactant — the part most people have never heard of. It thickens the mix so it clings to a vertical wall instead of running straight to the ground, and it lifts the dead organic material free of the surface.
- Dwell time — usually five to ten minutes. This is the step that gets skipped by anyone in a hurry, and skipping it is why some washes need a second visit.
Then it is rinsed off at roughly the pressure of a strong garden hose. On a house, the rinse is genuinely the least important part of the process.
What we clean, and at what pressure
Jacksonville housing stock spans 1890s clapboard to 2024 fibre cement. The material sets the method.
| Surface | Method we use | Pressure | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinyl siding | Soft wash | 100–300 PSI | Pressure forces water up behind the laps and into the wall. |
| Stucco | Soft wash, longer dwell | 100–200 PSI | Growth lives inside the texture where a rinse cannot reach. |
| Hardie / fibre cement | Soft wash | 150–300 PSI | Durable board, but the factory finish chalks if scrubbed. |
| Brick veneer | Soft wash | 300–600 PSI | Mortar joints erode long before the brick does. |
| Painted wood | Soft wash, tested first | Under 200 PSI | Older paint chalks. We test before committing. |
| Aluminium siding | Soft wash | 100–200 PSI | Oxidises, and pressure leaves permanent streaking. |
| Soffits & eaves | Soft wash, upward rinse | Under 200 PSI | Vents lead directly into the attic. |
My house is 1920s wood. Is this safe?
Yes, with adjustments. Historic Riverside, Avondale and Springfield homes get a weaker solution, a shorter dwell and a test panel somewhere inconspicuous before anything else happens. Original glazing putty, lead-era paint layers and softwood trim are all things we work around rather than through.
If a test panel tells us the paint is too far gone to clean safely, we say so and stop. A house that needs painting needs painting — washing it harder does not change that.
What house washing costs in Jacksonville
Typical Jacksonville range
$225–$650
Roughly $0.2–$0.4 per sq ft of exterior wall
Most single-story Jacksonville homes land in the low-to-mid range. Two stories, heavy shade, or three years of neglect push it up.
| Job size | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Under 1,500 sq ft, 1 story | $225–$325 |
| 1,500–2,000 sq ft, 1 story | $275–$425 |
| 2,000–2,500 sq ft, 1 story | $350–$500 |
| 2,000–2,500 sq ft, 2 story | $425–$600 |
| 2,500–3,500 sq ft, 2 story | $500–$750 |
| 3,500 sq ft and up | $650–$1,100 |
| What changes the price | Effect |
|---|---|
| Second story | +$75 to $175 |
| Stucco instead of vinyl | +10% to 20% |
| Heavy algae, 3+ years since last wash | +15% to 30% |
| Dense landscaping needing full pre-wet and rinse | +$50 to $125 |
| No working exterior spigot | +$40 to $90 (water tank) |
| Bundled with driveway on the same visit | −$40 to $90 |
Ranges reflect typical Jacksonville-area jobs in 2026. They are planning estimates, not quotes — the real number depends on access, buildup severity, and what the surface is actually made of. See how Jacksonville pricing works across every service →
Your landscaping is the part people worry about
It is the most common question we get, and it deserves a real answer rather than "they'll be fine".
Cleaning solution harms plants in one specific way: absorption. A dry plant in dry soil sitting under a wall being washed will take up whatever runs down onto it. A plant that is already saturated cannot absorb much of anything. That is the entire principle behind plant protection, and it is why pre-wetting matters more than covering does.
So the sequence runs:
- Beds and foliage are soaked with clean water until the soil will not take more.
- Anything delicate or directly beneath a heavily treated area gets covered.
- Runoff is directed away from beds where the grade allows it.
- Everything is rinsed again once the wall is done, and again at the end of the job.
Tell us about anything unusual before we start — orchids, a vegetable bed, a koi pond, newly laid sod, a plant that came from someone's grandmother. We would rather plan around it than apologise for it.
Photo needed
Crew member pre-wetting a foundation planting bed with a garden hose before soft washing begins — shows the protection step in progress rather than the finished result
On the day
What actually happens
- 01
Walk the property
Check siding condition, find the spigot, note failing caulk, open electrical, loose trim and anything already damaged.
- 02
Prep
Soak the beds, cover fixtures and outlets, move furniture, close windows, confirm gates and pets.
- 03
Apply
Solution goes on bottom-to-top so it does not streak, at a strength matched to the surface and the severity.
- 04
Dwell
Five to ten minutes. Reapplied on heavier sections rather than rushed.
- 05
Rinse top-down
Low pressure, working downward, keeping the wall wet so nothing dries mid-process.
- 06
Final rinse and walk-through
Landscaping rinsed again, hard surfaces flushed, and we look at it with you.
What a house wash will not fix
Worth saying plainly, because it saves everybody a disappointing conversation later.
- Oxidised or chalking paint. Cleaning removes the growth. It cannot restore a finish that has already broken down — that needs paint.
- Faded colour. UV damage is permanent. Your siding will look dramatically better and it will not look new.
- Rust bleed from fasteners. Metal staining behind the surface keeps coming back until the fastener is dealt with. See rust stain removal.
- Water intrusion. If moisture is getting into a wall, cleaning the outside changes nothing.
- Damaged or brittle siding. We will point it out. We will not clean something that will crack when touched.
- Roof algae. Different job, different approach — that is roof cleaning.
What it will do is remove years of organic growth, brighten soffits and eaves that have gone black, and make a well-kept house look well-kept again.
Neighbourhoods where we do a lot of house washing
Before & after
Soft wash transformations on Jacksonville homes
Algae and biofilm lift with solution and dwell time—not a hard blast against siding.
Algae removal soft wash before and after in Jacksonville
Controlled rinse beneath soffits and eaves
Answers
House washing questions
What is the difference between house washing and soft washing?
Will soft washing damage my paint?
What happens to my plants?
How long will it stay clean?
Do you clean soffits, eaves and gutter faces?
Can you wash a house before painting?
Is bleach used on my house?
Related
What people usually book alongside this
Photo your elevations for a soft-wash quote
Include shaded sides, eaves, and any oxidized or chalking paint so we can recommend a test area when needed.
Or email hello@jaxpropressurewash.com
What helps us quote fast
- One wide shot of each side that needs cleaning
- Close-ups of the worst staining
- Your address, so we can check the property size
- Roughly when it was last cleaned