Stanwood is where the subdivisions run out and the fields start. Lots are larger, drives are longer, and the ground is the open, often heavy soil of a farm edge rather than a city fill pad. Farm washing is concrete that has mud, moss, and sometimes oil. We clean the house walks to a house standard and the apron to a useful one. They are not the same finish.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98292 · 2020 population 7,915
The shop apron and the house walks
House siding, the entry, the patio. Then the slab you drive on, where the goal is safe and not slick, not a showroom. Equipment gets moved by you or we schedule around it. We do not spray a running tractor.
Distance from the drain or the ditch matters if we are using a treatment. We keep it on the concrete, not in the field ditch.
The ground in Stanwood
A Stanwood place might be a house, a lawn that is really a small pasture, a gravel drive, and a fence that has to mean something — keeping a view open, marking a line, holding a gentle slope. We mow and aerate at a scale that does not make sense on a Lynnwood lot. Weed pressure is real because the seed source is the field next door, not a crack in a sidewalk.
Drainage still matters. Flat or gently sloping heavy ground will sit wet. We use gravel where a paved drive would be wasted money, and a low wall where a bank needs a clean edge. Plantings can be simpler and tougher. The goal on a lot this size is a yard you can live in without a crew every week, with the edges kept and the drive solid.
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.
Wood versus concrete
Concrete can take a stronger wash. Cedar decks, fences, and soft siding cannot. If we raise the grain, the surface holds more dirt afterward. We would rather leave it a shade less bright than furred.
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.
More from this crew
- Pressure washing across Snohomish County
- Patio installation in Stanwood
- Paver installation in Stanwood
- Fence installation in Stanwood
- Yard cleanup in Stanwood
- Pressure washing in Arlington
- 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.
