Safety and Your Property
Cleaning solutions around plants, pets and children, how runoff is managed, and what insurance is carried.
Can my kids and pets be outside while you’re working, or right after?
During service we ask that children and pets stay inside or well clear of the work area, mainly because of hoses, equipment, wet footing, and overspray. Once an area has been rinsed and allowed to dry, normal use resumes. Tell us about kennels, pet runs, water bowls, sandboxes, and play sets when you schedule so we can rinse or cover them and direct runoff away from those spots.
Is the cleaning solution safe around my dog?
Yes, with the same precaution used for people: keep pets inside or clear of the work area while cleaning is in progress, and off treated surfaces until they have been rinsed and allowed to dry. The reason during the work is as much the hoses, equipment and wet footing as the solution itself. Once an area is rinsed and dry, normal use resumes.
Reviewed September 2026
Will the cleaning solutions harm my landscaping, grass, or pets?
We take steps to protect landscaping, grass, and outdoor pet areas during service, including pre-wetting and rinsing nearby plantings and controlling runoff and dwell time. Let us know about sensitive plants, gardens, or pet areas when scheduling so we can plan around them.
I have a vegetable garden and new plantings against the house. What do you do about those?
Beds and plantings next to the work area are pre-wetted before we start and rinsed again afterward, which dilutes anything that reaches them, and we control dwell time and direct runoff away from sensitive areas. Point out vegetable beds, new plantings, ponds, and anything you have babied when we walk the property so we can cover or plan around it. If a specific plant sits too close to the work to protect properly, we tell you instead of gambling with it.
Is it safe for my dog to be in the yard afterward?
Keep pets inside during the work and until the treated surfaces have been rinsed and dried, which is normally the same afternoon. That is the same guidance as for children, and it is about the wet surfaces and the equipment rather than anything lingering — hoses under pressure, ladders, and a slick walkway are the actual hazards during a wash. Pets also tend to investigate exactly the surface being worked on, which is a good reason to have them in regardless.
My Cleveland lot is narrow and my neighbor's house is close. How do you handle overspray?
On lots this narrow, containment matters as much as method, so it is part of the walk-through rather than something we discover on the day. Overspray reaches the neighbor's siding, the fence and the garden, so we work with controlled application rather than volume, direct the rinse deliberately, and cover or wet down plantings that sit in the path. We also raise access constraints early — where the hose runs, where we can stand, whether a gate or a shared drive is involved. Those are the things that change how long a city job takes, and they are priced up front.
My lot backs onto the fairway. What happens to the water and the cleaning solution?
We route it deliberately, away from the course. On the homes along Glenmoor Road and Lochness Circle the property line runs into irrigated turf, and on that kind of lot rinse water will find the low ground on its own if nobody plans for it. We plan for it: we pre-wet and protect beds and plantings, we direct rinse toward the areas that should take it, and we keep it off the fairway, the ponds and the irrigated turf rather than trusting the grade. Where the rinse water goes is a question about your specific lot rather than about the house, so the drainage route is set on site before anything is applied.
Will the cleaning solution kill my hydrangeas?
Not with the right handling, and hydrangeas are worth naming because they are among the more sensitive plants people have against a foundation. The protocol is pre-wetting: saturating the foliage and root zone before anything is applied, so the plant is already holding clean water and cannot take up much of anything else. Sensitive plantings get covered where they sit directly in the path, and everything gets a second rinse afterward. A pH neutralizer is available for plantings that warrant it, applied on request. The failure mode is always the same one — a plant left dry when the solution goes up.
Are you insured?
Yes. SurfaceWorks ProWash carries business liability insurance and can provide a current certificate of insurance on request before work begins. If a property manager, association, or landlord needs the certificate issued to their entity, tell us at the estimate stage so it is in hand before the crew arrives.
Can you clean patio furniture, a swing set, or a grill?
Yes — patio furniture, swing sets, grills, and similar outdoor equipment are a service we offer, cleaned at a pressure and solution suited to the material. We stay on hard, durable surfaces and avoid fabric, cushions, electronics, and anything fragile, and we will point out pieces we don’t think should be washed. Most people add it to a patio or deck cleaning since we are already set up on site.
I manage several properties. Can exterior cleaning be handled as one program?
Yes. For managed portfolios we document service zones, priorities, access instructions, operating restrictions, and recommended frequency so the plan is repeatable across buildings and visits instead of re-explained every time. Entries, walkways, breezeways, dumpster pads, and service areas are usually the recurring items, with heavier work scheduled seasonally. Recurring accounts are invoiced on an agreed schedule, and certificates of insurance are provided on request.
Reviewed September 2026
I think my Alliance house is a Lustron. Can it be pressure washed?
No, and identifying it before anything touches it is genuinely important. Lustron houses are porcelain-enameled steel panels, and they clean beautifully with the right detergent while being ruined by abrasion — once that enamel finish is scuffed it does not come back. So on any house we suspect is a Lustron, panel identification happens during the estimate, not on the day of the job, and the method is chemistry and a gentle rinse with nothing abrasive anywhere near the surface. If you are not sure what you have, we can tell you on the walk-through.
My Carrollton house is a Colonial Revival with painted trim. What method do you use?
Soft washing, with careful attention to where the water goes. Colonial Revival elevations mean painted trim, shutters, and often wood or composite detail that a pressure wand will chew right through — and once trim paint is stripped, cleaning has turned into a repainting bill. So the pressure stays low, the solution does the lifting, and the rinse is directed rather than sprayed. We check paint condition and any loose or failing detail before starting and tell you where cleaning would take off paint that is already letting go.
My HOA sent a notice about my siding or roof. Can you help me resolve it?
Yes, and it is a common reason people call. Send us the notice or the exact wording of the requirement and we will scope the work around what the association flagged, whether that is roof streaking, green growth on siding, or stained concrete at the drive and walkway. We can provide before-and-after photos of the completed work and a certificate of insurance on request so you have documentation to send back.
My siding has tiny black specks that will not wash off. What are they?
Almost certainly artillery fungus, and the mulch bed is the source. Sphaerobolus grows in decomposing hardwood mulch and forcibly ejects its spore mass toward light — usually onto the light-colored siding a few feet away. The specks are sticky when they land and cure hard, and they are genuinely difficult to remove once set; on vinyl they often leave a mark even after the spore itself is off. It shows up most on north and east elevations above mulched beds. The lasting fix is changing the bed material, since cleaning the siding without changing the mulch means the same speckling returns.
There is a dark line along the bottom foot of my siding. What causes that?
Splash-back. Rain hits the ground or the mulch bed and throws soil and organic matter onto the lowest course, and that band stays damp longer than anything above it because it is shaded by the grade and shielded from wind. The result is a consistent dirty stripe at the same height all the way around. It is ordinary soiling and it cleans up completely, but it returns fastest of anything on the house — grading the beds away from the wall or adding a gravel margin slows it considerably.
What cleaning solutions do you use?
We use professional exterior-cleaning solutions chosen for the material being cleaned, diluted to the concentration that surface can take, and given a controlled dwell time before rinsing. Soft washing works because the solution does the cleaning instead of pressure, which is what keeps shingles, painted wood, and vinyl intact. Concentration, dwell time, and rinse are adjusted per surface and condition rather than mixed the same for every job, and we will walk you through what is being applied where if you want to know.
What happens if something is damaged while you are working?
Tell us immediately and it gets handled. SurfaceWorks ProWash carries business liability insurance and a current certificate is available on request before work begins. Worth separating from damage, though: exterior cleaning often reveals conditions that were already there — aged caulking, failed paint, loose mortar, siding damaged under the dirt. Those get flagged during the walkthrough specifically so the difference between what was uncovered and what was caused is established before anyone touches the house.
Reviewed September 2026
Why is the bottom of my split-level siding the dirtiest part?
Because split levels put siding low to the grade and to the mulch line, which is exactly where splash staining and green growth start. Rain coming off the roof hits the ground and comes back up onto the panel, and the mulch bed holds moisture and organic material against the lower course. That band often needs a different approach than the rest of the elevation — treatment aimed at organic growth, plus attention to keeping runoff out of the beds themselves. We treat it as its own zone on the walk-through rather than assuming one pass across the whole wall will even it out.