Mountlake Terrace is mid-century houses on city lots, with newer buildings near the transit line. The slopes are gentle, the soils are compacted, and the yards were not designed for the amount of roof water a remodels-worth of downspouts can dump. 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 98043 · 2020 population 21,272
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 Mountlake Terrace
Lots are modest. A patio, a small lawn, a side yard that has become a moss strip, and a fence that is older than the owners. That is the usual visit. The soil has been walked on for sixty years. Aeration and dethatching change the lawn more than a bag of seed thrown on top.
Where the lot tips, it tips a little, and a low wall or a re-graded swale is enough. We are not cutting roads into a mountain. Pavers get people off the mud by the back door, and a pressure wash takes the black film off a walk that has not seen sun all winter. Plantings should stay in scale with the house. A hedgerow that needs a lift every year is the wrong tree for a forty-foot lot.
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.
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.
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.
More from this crew
- Pressure washing across Snohomish County
- Patio installation in Mountlake Terrace
- Paver installation in Mountlake Terrace
- Fence installation in Mountlake Terrace
- Yard cleanup in Mountlake Terrace
- Pressure washing in Lynnwood
- Pressure washing in Edmonds
- Pressure washing in Brier
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.
