Capri Wash Photo Gallery

What You Are Actually Looking At

Exterior cleaning photographs unusually well, which is exactly why it pays to know what you are seeing. The dramatic change on a house exterior is almost never dirt coming off — it is a living colony of algae, mildew and mould that has taken hold in the surface. Rinsing pushes it around. Treating it kills it at the root, which is why a properly soft-washed home stays clean for a season or two rather than a few weeks.

The roof shots are the clearest example. Those black streaks running down asphalt shingles are gloeocapsa magma, an algae that feeds on the limestone filler in the shingle itself. Blasting it off with pressure takes the granules with it and shortens the life of the roof. A low-pressure soft wash with the right detergent removes the growth and leaves the shingle intact.

The Surfaces in These Photos

The work shown here covers most of what we are called out for:

• Vinyl, wood and stucco siding, soft washed at low pressure so seals, trim and paint are left alone.
• Asphalt shingle roofs, cleared of algae, moss and black streaking without walking pressure across them.
• Concrete driveways, walkways and garage aprons, where genuine high pressure is the right tool.
• Paver patios and walkways, cleaned and, where it makes sense, sealed afterwards.
• Wooden decks and fences, washed gently enough to avoid raising the grain or splintering the boards.
• Gutters, both flushed clear inside and whitened outside to lift the oxidation and tiger striping.
• Commercial storefronts and office exteriors, scheduled around trading hours.

Judging a Washing Company by Its Photos

Two things are worth checking in anyone's gallery, including ours. First, look for whole-elevation shots rather than tight crops — a cropped square can hide the streaking left on the courses above it. Second, look for the awkward jobs: north-facing walls, shaded corners, roof valleys and the ground line where growth is heaviest. Clean work in the easy middle of a wall tells you very little.

If you would like to see something specific before you commit — a stucco elevation, a tile roof, a sealed paver driveway — call and ask. We have been doing this since our owners moved across from painting, and we would rather show you a comparable job than talk in generalities. The same work is behind our 5.0-star rating across 176 Google reviews.