Soft washing vs pressure washing: which does your home need?

People use "pressure washing" as a catch-all, but the pros are really choosing between two very different techniques. Pick the wrong one and you can strip paint, carve lines into render or force water behind your cladding. Here's the plain-English difference and which surfaces need which.

What's the actual difference?

High-pressure washing uses water force to blast grime off hard, durable surfaces. It's the right tool for concrete, pavers and aggregate.

Soft washing uses low pressure — barely more than a garden hose — combined with cleaning solutions that kill mould, mildew, algae and lichen at the source. The chemistry does the work, not the force. It's the right choice for anything delicate or porous.

Which surface needs which?

Surface	Method
Concrete driveway, paths, aggregate	High pressure
Pavers & brick paving	High pressure (then re-sand)
Rendered / painted walls	Soft wash
Weatherboard, fibro, Colorbond cladding	Soft wash
Roof tiles & Colorbond roofing	Soft wash
Timber decks & fences	Low pressure / soft wash

The rule of thumb: hard and horizontal (driveways, paths) can take pressure; vertical, painted, porous or fragile (walls, roofs, timber) should be soft washed.

What goes wrong with the wrong method

• Render — high pressure chews through the top coat and leaves permanent wand marks.
• Paint & weatherboard — pressure lifts and flakes paint and can drive water into joints.
• Roofs — blasting strips the tile glaze and voids warranties, so moss returns faster. (More on that in our roof cleaning guide.)
• Windows & seals — over-pressure can breach seals and force water inside.

Why soft washing lasts longer

Because it kills the mould and algae rather than just knocking the surface layer off, a soft wash stays cleaner for longer — often twice as long as a blast that leaves the spores behind. For a full house exterior in Canberra, soft washing is almost always the safer, longer-lasting choice.