Service Area

Pressure Washing in Vance

Most of the houses in Vance did not exist thirty years ago. The auto plant on the I-20/59 corridor brought the subdivisions with it, and the result is a town at the far east edge of Tuscaloosa County made up mostly of homes built since the 2000s: vinyl and fiber-cement siding, stone or brick accents on the front, wide concrete drives and young trees that have not yet shaded anything. Along the highway there is a line of small commercial, gas stations, storefronts and offices, that takes the same grime the houses do, only faster.

Newer houses still get dirty. Fiber-cement holds mildew in its texture, vinyl hazes over on the north wall, and the big drives go grey with tire marks and algae. We wash all of it at the right pressure for each surface. Every job is priced in writing before we start, by the surface and its size, from a photo or a quick walk-around. The form is how you send that photo.

Craftsman-style vinyl and stone home in a new Vance subdivision with a wide concrete driveway and young trees in the front yard

Newer subdivisions, vinyl and fiber-cement

Fiber-cement siding, the kind sold under the Hardie name and others, is tough, but its woodgrain texture holds mildew and pollen in the grooves, and it is painted, so pressure will lift the finish just like it would on wood. We soft-wash it: a cleaner applied at low pressure, time to work, and a rinse from the top down. The texture comes back clean and the paint stays.

Vinyl in the same subdivisions gets the same method with a milder mix. The problem spots on a newer vinyl house are the north wall, the shaded side of the garage, and the band under the gutters where the drip line stays wet. A fiber-cement and vinyl house wash in Vance is usually a half-day job, and we do the front walk and the porch as part of it.

These houses are new enough that the HOA often has a say in how they look. A written price from a photo makes that easy, and we are used to the gate codes and the rule about trucks staying in the drive.

Highway grime and construction dust

Vance sits on the interstate and on the roads that feed the plant and its suppliers, and the dust from that traffic settles on anything near the road. Houses on the outer streets of a subdivision, and every business on the highway, carry a grey film that is part road grit, part diesel soot, and part pollen. It does not rinse off with a hose. A detergent wash lifts it, and a low-pressure rinse carries it away without scouring the surface.

Concrete takes it worst. The drives in Vance are wide and new, and new concrete shows every tire mark, oil drip and grey streak. A surface cleaner brings the whole slab back to one color. Sidewalks and the apron at the street get the same treatment, and we keep the runoff out of the storm drain as much as the site allows.

New construction nearby adds red clay to the list. Any house downwind of a lot being graded gets a clay line on the lower siding and the garage door, and it needs to be rinsed off before it is washed, because the clay smears if you hit it with cleaner first. We work Monday through Saturday, 7am to 6pm, and answer quote requests the same day. The end of a building season is when the Vance streets call most.

What we wash in Vance

Houses: vinyl, fiber-cement, brick and stone fronts. Roofs, where the newer shingles are just beginning to streak on the shaded slopes. Concrete drives, walks, patios and pool decks. Fences and the few decks that exist on lots without much tree cover yet. Gutters, which on a new house are often full of shingle grit from the roof rather than leaves, and still need flushing before the first heavy rain. And the businesses along the highway, where storefronts and lots along the highway get washed early in the morning or after close so the doors stay open.

Vance is the far end of our route, and the crew that works it also runs Brookwood up Highway 216, Lake View across the county line, and Coaling back toward the city. We wash houses, roofs and concrete across Tuscaloosa County: Tuscaloosa, Northport, Cottondale, Coker, Brookwood, Vance, Duncanville, Fosters, Coaling, Moundville, Holt, Lake View and Samantha. Every town we cover is listed here.

Services we bring out here

Questions we get

Does fiber-cement siding need to be soft washed?

Yes. It is painted, and its woodgrain texture holds mildew in the grooves. High pressure lifts the finish and does not reach into the texture anyway. A low-pressure cleaner gets into the grain and a gentle rinse carries the growth off with the paint intact.

Can you wash a business on the highway without closing it?

Usually. We schedule storefronts and lots early in the morning or after hours and work around the entrance so customers can get in. Let us know the hours and we plan the visit around them.

Why does a new concrete drive in Vance look dirty so fast?

New concrete is light, so tire marks, oil drips and the grey film from road traffic show immediately. Shaded corners start growing algae within the first couple of years. A surface cleaner evens the whole slab out, and it holds longer if the drive gets regular sun.

A photo from the driveway

Stand in the drive and take a picture of the front of the house and one of the side that gets the least sun. Send them with the form, and add a shot of the drive if you want the concrete done. We reply with a written price the same day and the first open morning.