The criteria list doors, walls, soffits and fascia. Does one house wash cover all of them?

The criteria name doors, walls, soffits and fascia, and the method depends on what each one is made of; tell us which of them you want washed when you ask for the estimate. Roofs sit in the same sentence of 12.6.3 and are a separate service, because the method for a roof is not the method for a wall. The gutter faces are not named in that sentence, though its opening words reach the whole exterior; they are a separate service too, and Norandex, for one, says high pressure voids its gutter warranty.

The siding low on my wall is different from what is above it. One job or two?

It can be two methods on one wall. The lower band and the wall above it can be different materials, each with its own published instructions, and those instructions do not always agree. Show us where the seam falls, in person or in photos, when you ask for the estimate.

Could a wash change the colour of my paint — and what happens if it does?

Taking soil off changes how a wall looks, and where paint is already chalking or lifting it can leave what is underneath more visible, which is better found before the work than after it. That matters here because the repair for a finish is a repaint, and a repaint needs written board approval before it goes on, whether or not the colour changes. Where a wash itself sits in that process is a question for the board, and we will not answer it either way.

House washing in Poinciana

In Poinciana the Design Control Board Criteria do more than tell an owner the wall has to be clean. The same compilation of recorded restrictions puts a height in the middle of the cladding rules, names which surfaces the obligation reaches, and puts the ordinary repair for a damaged finish behind written board approval. Three clauses, and each one lands on the estimate.

Eight feet, and the rulebook can change partway up the wall

Section 7.3.2 says aluminium, vinyl or hardboard siding "below eight feet (8') in height" may be approved — if the board finds the material compatible with its surroundings, and only painted. That is permission granted case by case, not a count of what is standing, so what follows applies only where the permission has been exercised: there, a single elevation can carry one of those sidings low on the wall and a different cladding above it, with a seam between them. That seam is not a line in the paint. Two sets of instructions can meet there, and they are not the same: the vinyl association permits power washing with caution, held level with your eye and never aimed upward, while the Stucco Manufacturers Association, in its guidelines for three-coat stucco, describes a wash done with a garden hose. Eight feet is also well above eye level, so reaching the top of a lower band that runs up toward that height means tilting the wand upward, and upward is the one direction the vinyl guidance rules out, because spray angled up the wall drives water in behind the panels. Where that lower band is aluminium, the EPA-registered bleach label bears on it: rinse quickly and thoroughly, it says, if the solution comes in contact with aluminum window frames or gutters, since metal corrosion may occur. Frames and gutters are what that direction names; siding is the same metal. So on a wall like that it is worth naming the band, not just the elevation, when you ask for an estimate.

Here a chemistry mistake does not end at a repaint

Section 12.6, Maintenance, opens with a condition rather than an act. Owners must keep their homes' exteriors and ancillary structures "in a neat and attractive condition and good order and repair" and "shall not permit" them "to deteriorate or become unsightly". Read that beside what a wrong cleaner does to a wall. A finish that has been dulled or chemically attacked is not just a disappointment here; it is the kind of condition that sentence is aimed at. Now look at what it would take to put right. Section 12.5 requires written board approval before a repaint, "whether or not the original house color is changed", with the board's approved colour schemes recorded in the Poinciana Residential Color Selection Book, which is kept for review at the association's office. Section 6.5.3 offers an identical, previously approved colour only as an example of the sort of item the board may handle administratively rather than at a full meeting — items it identifies from time to time, which is not the same as a standing shortcut. So the ordinary repair for a damaged finish is a repaint, and a repaint needs written board approval. The chemistry rules each maker publishes are set out on our house-washing page; what matters here is that none of them is a pressure rule. They hold with the machine switched off, so the question to ask before anything is mixed is what the product is.

The list in 12.6.3 and our services are not the same list

Section 12.6.3 reaches "the exterior of the home or ancillary structures", and then names, "including, but not limited to", the doors, walls, roof(s), soffits and fascia. It is an obligation on an owner, not a menu, and it does not divide the way our services divide. Roofs are named in it, and a roof is a separate service here, because the method for a roof is not the method for a wall. Soffits are named in it, and a soffit is overhead by definition — the direction the vinyl siding guidance says not to point a wand — so it is looked at separately from the wall below it; where soffit and fascia are aluminium, they are the same metal as the window frames and gutters the bleach label says to rinse quickly and thoroughly if the solution comes in contact with them. The gutter faces are not named. The general words above the list plainly reach them, so this is not a gap in the covenant. Gutter faces are a separate service here, and one manufacturer gives a reason to treat them differently: Norandex's aluminium gutter warranty states that using high-pressure sprayers voids it, and for the soil streaks it calls tiger striping its care instructions recommend clear water, a garden hose and a soft-bristled brush. Those instructions also single out the parts of its gutters under eaves, porches, awnings and other overhangs, which get limited exposure to the natural washing effect of rainfall. And the same warranty treats chalking and fading as weathering: a brush lifts what is sitting on a coating, it does not bring the coating back.

Common questions

The criteria list doors, walls, soffits and fascia. Does one house wash cover all of them?: The criteria name doors, walls, soffits and fascia, and the method depends on what each one is made of; tell us which of them you want washed when you ask for the estimate. Roofs sit in the same sentence of 12.6.3 and are a separate service, because the method for a roof is not the method for a wall. The gutter faces are not named in that sentence, though its opening words reach the whole exterior; they are a separate service too, and Norandex, for one, says high pressure voids its gutter warranty.
The siding low on my wall is different from what is above it. One job or two?: It can be two methods on one wall. The lower band and the wall above it can be different materials, each with its own published instructions, and those instructions do not always agree. Show us where the seam falls, in person or in photos, when you ask for the estimate.
Could a wash change the colour of my paint — and what happens if it does?: Taking soil off changes how a wall looks, and where paint is already chalking or lifting it can leave what is underneath more visible, which is better found before the work than after it. That matters here because the repair for a finish is a repaint, and a repaint needs written board approval before it goes on, whether or not the colour changes. Where a wash itself sits in that process is a question for the board, and we will not answer it either way.

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