Pressure washing in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Local conditions

A working harbor, and a lot of cedar.

Norwalk Harbor is where the Norwalk River meets Long Island Sound, and it is one of the busiest recreational boating centers on the western Sound, with fifteen marinas and well over a thousand berths. The Norwalk Islands sit off the coast, and the shoreline runs from South Norwalk through East Norwalk out to Rowayton.

Rowayton is the reason we talk about method here. It is a peninsula village of shingle-style houses, cottages and older colonials, much of it cedar or painted wood, sitting directly in marine air. Cedar and painted shingle are among the least forgiving surfaces there are. Soft washing lifts the salt film and the green growth off them. High pressure furs the wood and drives water where it should not go.

East Norwalk around Calf Pasture Beach is a more conventional residential coastal pattern, and South Norwalk brings older mixed-use and commercial frontage into it. Inland toward Silvermine and West Norwalk the tree cover picks up and the work shifts back toward roofs and gutters.