Service Area

House Washing in Holt

A north wall in Holt gets a double dose. The river sits right there, the lock and dam hold a long pool of water upstream, and the morning haze that rises off it settles on the siding of every older house between the water and Crescent Ridge. By the time the sun burns through, the shaded side of the house has been damp for hours, and it has been that way every morning since spring. That is why the white frame houses along the river roads carry a green cast on one side and look fine on the other.

Holt is an older part of the county, just east of the city limits, with frame houses from the mid-century, brick ranches from the decades after, and tall pines over most of it. We wash a lot of houses here, and the two things we hear about most are the green wall and the gutters packed with pine straw. Both are easy to fix and both come back if nobody keeps after them, so this page covers what we do and how often it is worth doing.

Get FREE Quote Today
Older white frame house in Holt with a mildewed north wall, pine needles on the roof and in the gutters, and river haze behind the trees

River humidity and the north wall

Algae grows where it stays wet and shaded, and in Holt that is the north and east walls, the back of the house under the pines, and the bottom two feet of any wall near a downspout. On painted wood siding, which a lot of the older Holt houses still have, pressure is the enemy. It lifts paint, splinters trim and forces water into the joints. We soft wash: a cleaner goes on, the growth dies, and a low-pressure rinse carries it off. The paint stays. The wall goes back to white.

Tuscaloosa County gets over fifty inches of rain a year, and on the Holt side of town the clay is right under the grass, so the foundation band and the bottom course of siding pick up an orange splash line every spring. We treat that band separately, with a stronger cleaner and a careful rinse, as part of every house wash. The wash we do on frame and brick houses always includes it.

The lake and river air also greys the wood on porches and steps faster than you would expect, and a soft wash with a brightener brings those back along with the walls.

Pine straw and the gutters it fills

Pines drop all year, and a Holt gutter that was clear in March is packed by June. Straw holds water, the water sits against the fascia, the fascia rots, and the overflow pours down the siding and feeds the algae on the wall below. The black stripes on the outside of the gutter are the same algae and the same water, running down the face instead of through the downspout.

We clear the gutters by hand, flush the downspouts so we know they run, and then wash the outside face of the gutter so the stripes come off. Our gutter clearing and face brightening is usually done the same day as the house wash, since the ladders are already up. Every job is priced in writing before we start, by the surface and its size, from a photo or a quick walk-around, and gutters are priced by the run of the house, not by how full they are.

If the straw is bad enough that the gutters sag, we will tell you before we touch them. A full gutter can weigh more than its hangers were meant to hold.

What we wash in Holt

Painted wood, vinyl, Hardie and brick houses. Shingle and metal roofs, treated at low pressure for the black streaks. Gutters, inside and out. Driveways, walks, carport slabs and porches, with a post-treatment for mildew. Decks, steps and railings. Fences and retaining walls.

Holt is close enough to the shop that it is rarely more than a few days from quote to wash. We work Monday through Saturday, 7am to 6pm, and answer quote requests the same day. We wash houses, roofs and concrete across Tuscaloosa County: Tuscaloosa, Northport, Cottondale, Coker, Brookwood, Vance, Duncanville, Fosters, Coaling, Moundville, Holt, Lake View and Samantha, and from Holt the crew usually runs on to Cottondale or crosses the river to the subdivisions on the Northport side the same day.

Services we bring out here

Questions we get

Will a soft wash take the paint off an old wood house?

No. The cleaner removes the algae and the rinse is low pressure, close to a strong garden hose. Paint that is already peeling will still be peeling afterward, but we will not lift any that is sound.

How often should gutters be cleared under pines?

Twice a year is the safe answer in Holt, once after the spring drop and once in the fall. Once a year works if the gutters have guards and the trees are not right over the roof.

Do you wash the inside of the carport too?

Yes. The slab, the posts and the ceiling if it is mildewed. Move the cars and anything stored on the floor and we will do the whole bay.

Send a photo of the green side

One photo of the north wall and one of the gutters from the yard is enough. Put them through the form with your address and we will send a written price the same day. We do not wash anything until you have agreed to the number.