Power washing, pressure washing, soft washing: which one your house needs
Three different jobs that get used as one word. Choosing wrong is how vinyl siding cracks and concrete comes back striped.
The short answer
Pressure washing is high-pressure unheated water. Power washing is the same thing with heat added, which is what breaks down grease and oil. Soft washing is low pressure — around 150 to 300 PSI — with a cleaning solution doing the work instead of force. Concrete and brick can take pressure. Vinyl siding, painted wood and roofs need soft wash, and hitting them with a pressure washer is how panels crack and paint comes off.
The actual difference
In everyday use "power washing" and "pressure washing" get swapped around freely, including by companies that should know better. What matters is not the label on the van. It is whether the person holding the wand changes method when they move from your driveway to your siding.
| Method | How it works | Right for |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure washing | Unheated water, roughly 1,300–3,100 PSI | Concrete drives, sidewalks, brick, stone |
| Power washing | The same, with heated water | Oil stains, grease, gum, rust marks on concrete |
| Soft washing | 150–300 PSI plus a cleaning solution | Vinyl and painted siding, roofs, decks, fences |
What goes wrong when the method is wrong
- Vinyl siding: high pressure cracks panels and forces water up behind them, where it sits against the sheathing. The damage does not show up until it is expensive.
- Painted wood: pressure strips paint. You will see it immediately, in stripes.
- Roof shingles: pressure lifts granules off asphalt shingles and takes years off the roof. Roofs are a soft wash job, always.
- Concrete: too much pressure held too long etches the surface and leaves visible wand marks. Aggregate finishes are especially unforgiving.
- Old mortar: pressure blows out soft joints in older brickwork, which is common on the pre-war housing stock across the KC metro.
What a Kansas City house typically needs
Most properties here need both methods in one visit, which is exactly why the distinction matters.
The north-facing side of a house grows green algae because it stays damp. That is a soft wash with a cleaning solution — the growth is biological, and killing it is what stops it coming straight back. Blasting it off with pressure removes what you can see and leaves what you cannot, which is why it returns within a season.
Driveways and paths are the opposite problem: no delicate surface to protect, and stains that need force. Oil and rust want heat. Moss and general grime want pressure and a decent surface cleaner rather than a wand, which is what stops the striping.
A useful test when you get a quote: ask what pressure they will use on the siding. If the answer is the same as for the driveway, keep calling.
What we charge
Siding starts at $180, driveways at $120, decks and patios at $150. Those are floor prices for a typical suburban property — square footage and how bad the staining is move the number, which is why we look before we commit to it.
Doing siding and the driveway in one visit is cheaper than two visits, because most of the cost is setup and water, not time on the wand.
Common questions
Almost. The difference is heat: a power washer heats the water, a pressure washer does not. Heat is what breaks down oil, grease and gum, so it matters on a stained driveway and matters very little on general dirt.
You should not. High pressure cracks the panels and drives water behind them. Vinyl is a soft wash job — low pressure and a cleaning solution that kills the algae rather than just knocking it off.
Siding roughly once a year, usually spring, because our humidity grows algae on shaded elevations. Driveways every year or two depending on tree cover and how much oil they see.
It can, if the pressure is too high or the wand is held in one place too long. That is what causes etching and visible stripes. A surface cleaner attachment rather than a bare wand is what keeps the finish even.
Yes, an outside spigot. We bring everything else. If the water is off at the property, tell us beforehand and we will plan around it.