Not all buildings are the same and neither are all the walls on a single building. Routine pressure washing shouldn’t be overlooked for the most vulnerable areas of your structure.

South and east facing sides that get a lot of sun typically don’t see much organic growth problems (they see other UV related problems). North and west do. We suggest every three years a pressure washing of the more problematic sides of your building to keep paint and sealed surfaces in tact. What happens if you don’t?

As black mold and algae fester they become harder and harder to remove. Rope access firms typically, due to environmental and control concerns, utilize high pressure water only to clear large swaths of surface area quickly. If left unchecked it doesn’t take long, typically 3-5 years, before the growth gets to a point where pressure washing won’t be able to remove all traces; resulting in quicker regrowth. Thorough chemical based cleans utilizing sodium hypochlorite or other options are possible; but far more time consuming as care needs to be taken with application and control.

Neglected surfaces will ultimately degrade. Cracks, rust, and other issues will start becoming prominent. A complete envelope repair to remove degrading paint / sealant is the only next step. Part of the reason is a painted surface, left to the mercy of our Vancouver, BC rainforest climate, will degrade to the point of not being able to even survive a high pressure cleaning in the first place.

A routine pressure washing will be a fraction of the cost of a complete envelope repair which would involve engineers, high supply costs, and a far larger labor time involvement.