Pressure washing in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Local conditions

Old stock, dense blocks, and a working waterfront.

Bridgeport sits at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Island Sound, with Seaside Park running nearly three miles along the water and Black Rock Harbor on the western side of the city.

Black Rock is coastal and old. Most of its houses were built no later than 1939, and the streets are lined with Cape Cods, Foursquares and painted wood that has been standing through salt air for the better part of a century. That combination, old painted surfaces plus marine exposure, is the single strongest argument for soft washing rather than pressure. High pressure on hundred year old paint does not clean it, it removes it.

Across the rest of the city the density changes the job. Multifamily housing from the early twentieth century sits close together through the Hollow, the East Side and the West End, which means shaded elevations, slow drying, and mildew that returns. Commercial frontage has the same problem with more foot traffic in front of it.