Exterior Cleaning in Portland, Maine

Exterior Cleaning Built for Portland Homes

Portland is an old city, and it shows in the housing stock. Close to half of the homes here were built before 1940, and the peninsula is dense with clapboard, cedar shingle, and brick that has been standing through a century of Maine winters. That is a very different cleaning problem from a modern vinyl subdivision. We handle soft washing, house washing, roof cleaning, gutter cleaning, and pressure washing across every Portland neighborhood, and we pick the method to suit the surface rather than running the same pressure setting over everything.

Why We Soft Wash Instead of Pressure Wash

Soft washing is a method that relies on our special proprietary cleaning solution to kill organic matter rather than high pressure. While high pressure washing may appear to remove the moss, dirt and algae, it doesn’t kill it. By killing algae and fungus, your exterior surfaces remain clean longer than with a pressure wash. This method is commonly used for residential and commercial properties, as well as on surfaces like roofs, decks, and fences. With our high quality equipment and professional detergents, it is the safest and most effective method of cleaning exterior surfaces. 

Portland sits on a peninsula with Casco Bay to the east, Back Cove to the north, and the Fore River to the south, so there is water on three sides and humidity averages around 71 percent through the year. Salt carried off the bay is the part most homeowners miss. Salt is hygroscopic, meaning it pulls moisture out of the air and holds it against your siding long after the rain has stopped, and that extra dampness is what lets algae and mildew take hold season after season. Rinsing the salt film off matters as much as removing the growth sitting on top of it. Inland, the tree cover tells the other half of the story. Neighborhoods like Deering Center sit under heavy mature canopy, and shaded north-facing roof planes stay damp long enough for black streaking to establish. Those streaks are a cyanobacteria called Gloeocapsa magma, and it feeds on the limestone filler in asphalt shingles, so leaving it alone costs you granules and shingle life.