Granite Falls takes the mountain rain and sits on ground that falls away toward the river and the falls. Steep sides of lots are normal. Water concentrates, finds the weak spot in a bank, and leaves a rill where the lawn used to be. Foothill buildings stay damp. The walk from the drive to the door is often slick. That is a safety wash, and it is also a place we do not want to strip the surface off.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98252 · 2020 population 3,572
Concrete, siding, and the mossy walk
We clean the slick film and the siding that has gone green on the timber side. Water is directed away from the crawlspace. On a slope, the runoff has to go somewhere that is not under the house.
Stone walls get a light clean if you want the face readable. We do not try to make fifty-year-old rock look new. That means blasting the face off.
The ground in Granite Falls
Properties on the edge of town back into fir and alder. The lawn, if there is one, is a cleared bench. The rest is slope, stump, and shade. We get called when a bank has started to slump after a wet winter, or when a path down to the lower yard has turned into a creek.
Rock walls and a drain at the top of the slope do more than plants will. Beauty bark in the deep shade keeps the weeds down and the mud off the house, but it will not hold a bank by itself. Tree work is practical: limbs over the roof, and sightlines where the forest is closing the drive. Aerator and seed belong on the flat piece only. Treating the whole hillside like a turf job is how you waste a season.
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
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.
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.
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 Snohomish County
- Patio installation in Granite Falls
- Paver installation in Granite Falls
- Fence installation in Granite Falls
- Yard cleanup in Granite Falls
- Pressure washing in Arlington
- Pressure washing in Lake Stevens
- Pressure washing in Marysville
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.
