Pressure washing in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Local conditions

The beach and the hill are two different jobs.

Fairfield has around five miles of shoreline on Long Island Sound and five public beaches along it, from South Pine Creek and Penfield across to Sasco and Southport. Down there the work is salt film and mildew on siding, and a lot of the housing that takes it is old.

Southport in particular is a designated historic district full of Federal and Greek Revival houses, and the town was settled in 1639. Painted historic clapboard and trim is the surface that high pressure ruins fastest. It gets soft washed or it does not get washed.

Greenfield Hill in the north of town is the opposite condition. Lots run an acre and up, stone walls and centuries-old trees line the roads, and houses sit back behind mature canopy. Full shade all day means roofs grow algae and moss on the north slopes, and gutters under that much tree cover need clearing more than twice a year, not less.