Everett is the big city in the county, and the ground changes block to block: waterfront fill, older neighborhoods with tired topsoil, and tighter lots where the roof and the driveway shed more water than the yard can swallow. Boeing and the working waterfront are the backdrop. The yards are ordinary residential lots with city drainage problems. City concrete shows every stripe. We overlap passes so the drive does not look combed, and we do not leave a dirty border along the garage.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98201 · 2020 population 110,002
Walks, drives, and the green on the north wall
Oil spots are not mildew. A wash fades them and does not always erase them. We say that before you expect a new slab. The green on the siding and the fence comes off, and a treatment slows the return.
Neighbors’ cars and open windows are part of a tight lot. We work so we are not shooting grit at a windshield. If the drive is the only access, we plan the dry time.
The ground in Everett
On a typical Everett lot the soil has been graded, driven on, and patched for years. It sheds or it puddles, and it rarely does the quiet middle thing a new lawn needs. Downspouts often end in a splash block ten inches from the foundation. That is the puddle by the basement window.
We work from the Port Gardner waterfront and the streets near the naval station up into the older neighborhoods and out toward the valley. Access is the constraint people forget: a machine that fits a Mill Creek cul-de-sac may not fit a fenced backyard off Broadway. Permeable pavers and a short French drain solve more Everett problems than a bigger patio. Lawns here are for people who want the grass cut and the moss knocked back, not a show lawn. We schedule mowing and aeration around that.
How we do the work
Most of what people call pressure washing here is organic film: the black and green on the north side, the walks, the fence. The fix is the right tip, the right distance, and often a wash that kills the growth so it does not return in a month. A zero-degree tip on a soft wood deck is how you get a furred, ruined deck.
We do not drive water up under lap siding or into a vent to prove the washer is strong. High pressure is for concrete that can take it. Wood, paint, and mortar joints get a softer approach.
What we look at first
- What the surface is
- Where the water will run
- Plants and outlets we need to protect
- Whether the black is mildew that needs a treatment, not just a blast
Treatment
A wash that kills the algae and mildew, applied and rinsed, is why the surface stays clean longer than a blast. We use it where the film is biological. We do not soak your vegetable bed in it. Plants get rinsed.
How often
North sides and shaded patios, about once a year if you care. Sunny south walks can go longer. Exposed marine rails may want it yearly. We do not sign you up for a monthly wash of a surface that does not need it.
What will not come out
Rust, deep oil, and etching that is already in the concrete. We can fade some of it. We will not promise a new slab. Paint that is loose will leave with the dirt, and you will see the bare spots. We point those out first if we can.
More from this crew
- Pressure washing across the region
- Patio installation in Everett
- Paver installation in Everett
- Fence installation in Everett
- Yard cleanup in Everett
- Pressure washing in Mukilteo
- Pressure washing in Marysville
- Pressure washing in Lake Stevens
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a Snohomish County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
