Calgary house washing done with soft-wash chemistry, not high-pressure damage
Vinyl, fibre cement, painted wood, stucco and brick all clean up with the same low-pressure, surfactant-led approach. We dial the mix and the dwell time to the substrate, then rinse from gutter line to grade so the siding looks the way it did the year you moved in. Most Calgary house washes run $250 to $700 depending on size, height and how stubborn the algae has gotten.
Algae, dust and oxidation come off the siding, not the finish
Calgary siding takes a beating from chinook freeze-thaw, prairie dust that drifts north out of the foothills, and north-facing algae blooms that get worse every July. House washing is the reset, the soft-wash mix kills the algae at the cell wall, the surfactant lifts dust and oxidation, and the low-pressure rinse takes everything down the grass without driving water into your soffit vents. The end result is a uniform colour again, not a chalky shadow of one.
We pair house washing with roof cleaning and gutter cleaning on the same visit so the whole envelope gets cleaned in one ladder set-up. If you are also booking driveway cleaning, the flatwork gets done after the house wash so the soap rinse never re-soils a fresh driveway.
Recent work
How a Calgary house wash runs
Four steps from drop-cloth to done
Walk and plan
We walk the property with you, mark the elevations, note plants that need extra rinse cover, check for open windows and identify the water tap and power outlet. Quote in writing before anything wet happens.
Prep and protect
Drop-cloths over beds and shrubs, downspouts closed, lights and exterior outlets covered, screens detached if needed. The prep is what keeps the soft-wash mix off the lawn and out of the soffits.
Soft-wash and dwell
Low-pressure application of the surfactant and biocide mix, applied bottom-up so it does not streak. Five to ten minutes of dwell time per elevation so the chemistry, not the pressure, does the work.
Rinse, walkaround, invoice
Top-down low-pressure rinse, walkaround with you so you can spot anything we missed, lift the drop-cloths and reopen the downspouts. Invoice matches the quote, no last-minute add-ons.
Built for Calgary homes
Chinook freeze, prairie dust and the north-side algae problem
Calgary siding does not weather the way Vancouver siding does. Chinook freeze-thaw drives moisture into hairline cracks in stucco, prairie dust off the foothills stains light-coloured vinyl, and the north-facing walls grow algae from late June through September because the wall stays cool and damp under the eaves. None of that comes off with a hose, and a 4000 PSI tip handed to a homeowner usually finishes the job by carving lines into the vinyl.
Soft-wash chemistry handles all three with the same mix and a different dwell time. Pre-listing house washes ahead of a Calgary market spring help curb appeal photos. Pre-paint house washes give the new paint something clean to bond to. Annual maintenance washes keep the algae from getting a foothold in the first place. Talk to us about a two-visit maintenance program if you want it on the calendar.
Written quotesPricing
Annual + as-neededCadence
Hartford house washingGuarantee
Pair house washing with
Add-ons that make sense on the same visit
House washing pairs cleanly with roof, gutters and flatwork when the crew is already there. One trip, one prep, one rinse.
Five questions that come up on most house-wash quotes.
Vinyl, fibre cement (Hardie board), aluminum, painted wood, stucco and brick all clean up with the same soft-wash chemistry, only the dwell time and concentration change. We test a small section first when the substrate is unusual, like older painted cedar or limestone trim, and adjust the mix before we cover the rest of the elevation.
Not when it is done right. Soft-washing uses low pressure, around 100-300 PSI at the wall, with a surfactant that lifts grime without abrading the finish. The damage you see in horror stories almost always comes from a 4000 PSI tip held too close to vinyl or paint. We use the chemistry, not the pressure, to do the work.
A standard 1,500 to 2,500 square foot bungalow or two-storey takes a crew of two roughly three to five hours, including prep, dwell time and rinse. Larger two-storey homes with detached garages run closer to a full day. The number is on your written quote so there are no surprises on the schedule.
Yes. An outdoor tap with normal city pressure and a standard 120V outlet are enough. We bring the pressure washer, hoses, ladders, downstream injector and the soft-wash mix. If you are on a well or rural cistern, mention it when you call so we can plan a tank top-up between elevations.
Yes, this is exactly what soft-wash is built for. Green or black algae on north and east-facing walls is a Calgary classic, the wall stays cool and damp, the algae moves in. The soft-wash mix kills the organism, not just the colour, so the surface stays clean for a year to eighteen months instead of weeks.
Calgary house washing reviews
What homeowners say after the wash
★★★★★4.9· 75 reviews on Google
★★★★★
Booked a soft-wash on our Brentwood bungalow after the algae took over the north wall. Crew showed up on time, walked the property with me, covered the perennials and had the whole place rinsed in under four hours. Quoted number was the invoiced number.
K. T.
Calgary · Brentwood
★★★★★
Stucco around the windows had a chalky grey look for years. Hartford did the test patch first to confirm the mix would not lift the colour, then did the whole north and east elevation. The contrast in the before-and-after is unreal.
M. L.
Calgary · Dalhousie
★★★★★
Listed our Springbank Hill home last May, the realtor said the curb appeal photos were the difference. Hartford soft-washed the siding, brightened the gutter line and cleared the algae off the roof in the same visit.
R. B.
Calgary · Springbank Hill
★★★★★
Fibre cement boards on a 1950s Mount Pleasant infill. Was nervous about pressure on the painted finish, the crew showed me the gauge at the wall before they started. Easy decision to keep them on a yearly maintenance.
S. P.
Calgary · Mount Pleasant
From the blog
House washing tips and case studies
Free written estimate
Get your Calgary house washing quote in writing
Tell us the elevations, the siding type and the access notes. A Hartford estimator follows up within one business day, walks the property and leaves you with a written, itemised quote. Most homes land in the $250 to $700 range.
