Pressure Washing in Kennebunk, ME

Pressure Washing in Kennebunk calls for restraint. The town has a 575-acre National Register district full of carefully kept older houses, and the wrong nozzle can strip paint, raise wood grain or push water behind clapboards. Our approach here is mostly soft washing: a low-pressure rinse with a cleaner suited to the surface, applied slowly, with a test spot on anything we are unsure about.

Houses built for ship captains

Kennebunk was a shipbuilding center until 1918, and its streets show it. The Kennebunk Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1974, covers 575 acres along Route 35 from the Kennebunk River to U.S. 1. The northern part of Summer Street is lined mainly with houses built in the first half of the 1800s for ship captains, and the district's oldest houses date to the 1750s and 1760s. The Wedding Cake House, built in 1826 and given its Gothic Revival trim in the 1850s, is the best-known example. Summer Street was the first district in Maine to be listed on the National Register.

Those houses share a few traits that matter for washing: wood clapboard with many coats of paint, tall windows with old glazing, detailed trim and porches, and granite or brick foundations. High pressure can split old boards and blow out glazing putty. We use wide fan tips and keep the wand back, and we let the cleaner do the work.

Lead paint is a real concern here

Homes painted before 1978 can contain lead paint, and older houses often have several layers of it. Maine's lead statute names uncontained high-pressure washing as an activity that can release lead into the environment. On any house where paint is cracking or flaking, we do not try to remove it by washing. We point out the problem areas, keep water pressure low and away from loose paint, and suggest a lead-safe painter for those spots before or after the wash.

Owners who plan ahead

Census figures show 80.6% of Kennebunk homes are owner-occupied, and about 30% of residents are 65 or older. Many owners here would rather schedule regular, gentle cleanings than wait until a house looks neglected. A common plan is a soft wash of the siding every year or two, a deck and porch cleaning each spring, and a roof soft wash when black streaks show up on the north slope. We can put that into a written plan with each item listed separately.

Near the beaches and rivers

The town is drained by the Kennebunk and Mousam rivers, and its coastline includes Mother's Beach, Middle Beach and Gooch's Beach. Shoreline houses pick up salt film and sand; homes under big trees inland pick up mildew, pollen and leaf stains. We keep rinse water and cleaning products out of the rivers and the beach, wet down plants before and after, and steer runoff into lawns rather than the street.

What we handle in Kennebunk

• Soft washing of painted clapboard, shingle and vinyl siding
• Porch, deck and fence cleaning, including painted porch floors at low pressure
• Brick, granite step and stone wall cleaning with test patches
• Roof soft washing for algae streaks and moss
• Walkway, driveway and patio cleaning
• Storefront and office washing in the village centers

Talk to us first

If your house is in the historic district or has fragile paint, tell us when you call (207) 393-2121. We will look at it in person, explain how we would clean each side and give you a written quote.

Call (207) 393-2121