Pressure Washing Services
Pressure washing is the residential exterior service that cleans driveways, patios, decks, fences, and house exteriors by matching PSI and nozzle to each surface — 3,000+ PSI on standard concrete, 500 to 1,500 on wood decks, soft wash under 500 PSI on vinyl siding — from $129 for a single patio or deck to $700 for a full two-story exterior soft wash. Listing photos next Tuesday and the driveway looks like it belongs to a different house — black mildew on the north walk, oil stains from the previous owner under where the car has sat for two years, a fence line going green on the shaded side. Pressure washing is the trade for the surfaces that weather quietly until a deadline (a listing, a holiday, a graduation party) makes the gap visible. Handis runs overlapping passes for no streaks and works the dirty runoff away from storm drains.
Service
What Does a Pressure Washing Visit Include?
A Handis pressure washing visit is a residential cleaning service that matches PSI, nozzle angle, and stand-off distance to six surface families — driveways and concrete pads, patios in concrete or pavers or natural stone, wood and composite decks, wood and vinyl fences, vinyl or brick or stucco house exteriors, and oil-stained garage floors — with prices from $129 for a single patio up to $700 for a full two-story soft wash. Each family fails a different way with the wrong setting.
Driveways, Sidewalks & Concrete Pads
Standard poured concrete handles 3,000+ PSI with a 25-degree nozzle held 12 to 18 inches off the surface. Stamped concrete and exposed-aggregate need a wider nozzle and a longer stand-off — too tight and the wand etches the pattern. Garage floors get a pre-soak with a degreaser before the wash. Oil stains get a second pass with a fresh degreaser application; older deeply-absorbed stains lighten significantly but do not always fully disappear.
Patios — Concrete, Pavers & Natural Stone
Concrete patios run the same as driveways. Pavers and natural stone need a lower PSI (1,500 to 2,000) with a wider 40-degree nozzle — too tight and the wand blasts joint sand out of the paver gaps. Natural stone (flagstone, slate, bluestone) needs the lowest pressure of the group because some stones chip at the edges under high PSI. Pavers usually need joint sand re-applied after washing; we sweep polymeric or standard joint sand back into the gaps as part of the visit.
Decks — Wood, Composite & Vinyl
Wood decks (cedar, redwood, pressure-treated pine) need 500 to 1,500 PSI with a 40-degree nozzle and a wider stand-off — anything higher gouges the wood and raises the grain. Composite decking (Trex, TimberTech, Azek) handles 1,500 to 2,500 PSI but the cleaning solution does most of the work; pressure alone leaves residue. Wood decks benefit from a gentle pre-soak with deck cleaner before the wash. We do not pressure-wash painted decks — the wash strips the paint along with the dirt.
Fences — Wood & Vinyl
Wood fences (cedar, pine) and vinyl fences both clean at 1,500 to 2,500 PSI with a 40-degree nozzle. Wood fences with heavy mildew get a pre-soak with sodium hypochlorite cleaning solution (the same chemistry used in soft-washing). Vinyl fences clean fast and fully without the pre-soak. Staining or sealing after a wood-fence clean is available as an add-on; we recommend waiting 48 hours after the wash for the wood to fully dry before applying any sealer or stain.
House Exteriors — Soft Wash on Vinyl, Standard on Masonry
Vinyl siding cleans with soft-washing — low pressure (under 500 PSI) with a sodium-hypochlorite cleaning solution that dwells five to ten minutes, then rinses. Standard pressure forces water behind the panel into the wall cavity and creates a mold problem worse than the one you started with. Brick and stucco handle standard pressure (2,500 to 3,000 PSI) with a 25-degree nozzle. Painted wood siding gets soft-washed like vinyl — pressure strips paint. We assess on arrival and tell you the chemistry before we start.
Garage Floors, Aprons & Concrete Pads
Oil, road salt, tire marks, and rubber buildup work into the surface of concrete over years. We pre-soak with a degreaser (Krud Kutter or Oil Eater), let it dwell 10 minutes, then pressure wash at 3,000+ PSI with a surface cleaner attachment for even results across the slab. Runoff goes toward the drain or apron — never into a storm drain where regulations prohibit it (many municipalities require oil-stained runoff to be contained and disposed of separately; we follow local code).
How Pressure Washing Works
Six sequential steps from the surface assessment through the storm-water-safe rinse — the actual sequence we follow on every Handis pressure-washing visit.
Surface Assessment & PSI Match
We walk every surface before the wand turns on — concrete, pavers, natural stone, wood deck, composite deck, vinyl siding, brick, stucco — and match the PSI, nozzle angle, and stand-off distance to the substrate. The truck carries a half-dozen nozzles for exactly this reason.
Surrounding Area Protection
Plants, exterior outlets, ground-floor windows, outdoor furniture, and cars get covered or moved before pressure starts. The wand kicks up debris, chemistry, and water droplets across a 20-foot radius — five minutes of prep avoids broken pots, soaked outlets, and angry-neighbor calls.
Chemistry Pre-Soak Where Needed
Heavy mildew on fences and house exteriors gets a sodium-hypochlorite cleaning solution that dwells five to ten minutes. Garage floors and oil-stained concrete get a degreaser (Krud Kutter or Oil Eater) for a ten-minute dwell. The chemistry kills the organic matter so the rinse carries it away.
Soft Wash on Vinyl, Painted Wood & Stucco
Vinyl siding, painted-wood siding, and stucco clean at under 500 PSI with the cleaning solution doing the work. Standard pressure forces water behind the panel into the wall cavity and creates a mold problem worse than the one you started with — soft-washing keeps the substrate dry.
Overlapping Passes for No Streaks
Driveways, large patios, and concrete pads get consistent overlapping passes — never random patterns — so the slab dries uniformly. Streaks do not show up until two hours after we leave; the overlap technique is what prevents the same-evening callback.
Runoff Routed, Not Into a Storm Drain
Municipal storm-water regulations in most West Coast and Pacific Northwest cities prohibit oil-stained and surfactant-laden runoff from entering storm drains. We block the storm drain on the work-area side where required, contain runoff toward the sanitary apron, and dispose of degreaser-soaked debris separately per local code.
Pressure Washing Pricing
Final pricing depends on surface area, condition (light, moderate, or heavy staining), and access. Multi-surface visits in a single appointment are cheaper per surface than booking each separately. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us the surfaces, the square footage, and the staining level — we will quote the visit.
Why Handis for Pressure Washing
Most pressure washing complaints we get called to fix trace to one of three failures — a wand held too close to wood that gouged the grain, a vinyl siding wash done at full PSI that drove water behind the panel into the wall cavity, and a streaky driveway because the previous job used random patterns instead of consistent overlapping passes. After a few thousand wash visits across standard concrete, stamped concrete, pavers, slate, cedar decking, composite decking, vinyl siding, brick, stucco, and painted-wood surfaces, every one of those failures has a fix in the truck. We bring the right PSI, the right nozzle, and the right chemistry for the surface you actually have.
PSI matched to the surface — never one setting for the whole job
Standard concrete handles 3,000+ PSI. Wood decks need 500 to 1,500. Vinyl siding cleans at under 500 PSI with chemistry, not raw pressure. Pavers and natural stone need lower pressure with a wider nozzle to keep the joint sand in. We change settings between surfaces on the same visit — the truck carries a half-dozen nozzles for exactly this reason.
Soft-washing on vinyl, painted wood, and stucco — chemistry does the work
Vinyl siding, painted wood siding, and stucco fail the same way under high PSI — water gets forced behind the surface into the wall cavity, paint strips off, and mildew comes back inside three months from the wet substrate behind the panel. Soft-washing uses a sodium-hypochlorite cleaning solution at low pressure (under 500 PSI), dwells five to ten minutes, then rinses. The chemistry kills the mildew; the rinse carries it away. The wall stays dry inside.
Overlapping passes for no streaks
Random patterns leave visible streaks once the surface dries — and the streaks do not show up until two hours after we leave. We work in consistent overlapping passes on every surface, especially driveways and large patios, so the finished slab dries uniformly. A streak-free driveway is the difference between a homeowner happy with the wash and a homeowner who calls us back the same evening.
We protect the surrounding area before we start
Plants, exterior outlets, ground-floor windows, outdoor furniture, and cars get covered or moved before the wand turns on. Pressure washing kicks up debris, chemicals, and water droplets across a 20-foot radius. Five minutes of prep avoids the cleanup, broken pots, and angry-neighbor calls that a careless wash creates.
Runoff routed correctly, not into a storm drain
Municipal storm-water regulations in most West Coast and Pacific Northwest cities (Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles) prohibit oil-stained runoff and surfactant-laden runoff from entering storm drains — that water reaches creeks and Puget Sound or San Francisco Bay untreated. We block the storm drain on the side of the work area where required, contain the runoff toward the sanitary apron, and dispose of degreaser-soaked debris separately. The wash leaves clean concrete and a clean watershed.
Estimate
Tell us the surfaces (driveway, patio, deck, fence, house exterior), the approximate square footage or linear footage, the surface material (concrete, pavers, wood, composite, vinyl, brick), and the staining level — we will quote it.
Customer Reviews
Recent pressure washing reviews from verified customers.
Driveway was covered in oil stains from the previous owner and looked awful before listing photos next week. The tech pre-soaked the stains with a degreaser, used the surface-cleaner attachment for the open concrete, hit the stains a second time, and finished in about two hours. Honestly looks like new concrete. Our realtor could not believe the difference.
Back patio (stamped concrete) and the wood deck off the kitchen. The tech used different settings for each — lower PSI and a wider nozzle on the stamped pattern so it would not etch, even lower on the cedar deck with a 40-degree tip. Both came out great, no gouges on the wood, the stamped pattern still crisp. Took maybe two hours total.
The vinyl siding on the north side of our two-story was covered in green algae. The tech soft-washed the whole house exterior with a low-pressure setup and a cleaning solution — said anything stronger would push water behind the panel. The house looks like we just had it painted. Wish we had done this years ago.
100 feet of cedar fence going green on the shaded side. The tech pre-soaked the heavy-mildew sections with a cleaning solution, dwelled the full ten minutes, then washed. Some of the discoloration was UV-darkened wood that did not fully lift but the green mildew was gone. He also told us to wait 48 hours before re-staining and recommended a specific product.
Garage floor, three years of oil drips from an old Subaru and salt stains from winter. Tech laid down degreaser, dwelled ten minutes, hit it with the surface cleaner at full PSI. The fresh oil stains came out completely; the oldest darkest one lightened by maybe 80 percent. He told me on the call that the oldest stain might not fully disappear and he was right — but the floor looks years better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about residential pressure washing.