House Washing Around the College of Idaho Campus

Old Painted Wood Siding, Not Vinyl, Is What We're Mostly Washing Here

Walk a few blocks in any direction from campus and most of what you're looking at is original wood lap siding, repainted more than once over the decades, on houses that went up before the college turned fifty. Newer infill and the duplexes built to house students and staff more often carry vinyl or fiber-cement siding instead. That mix matters for how we wash a job, not just what it costs. Old painted wood doesn't take full pressure the way vinyl does - a wand run too hot can drive water behind a lap board or peel paint that's already thin, especially at butt joints and around old trim. We soft-wash the whole block by default: low pressure, a cleaning solution doing the actual work, safe on wood, vinyl, or fiber-cement alike, and it's the only setting we'd run on a house with 60-year-old paint.

Canal-Fed Sprinkler Overspray Leaves a Line Low on the Wall

A lot of lots around campus are on Pioneer Irrigation District's canal system rather than straight city water for their sprinklers, and that water runs a heavier sediment and mineral load than a hose bib does. Where a sprinkler head sits close to the foundation and has been overspraying the same few feet of siding for years, you'll see it as a rust-tinted band low on the wall, usually starting right at head height and fading out a couple feet up. It's the same water source that spots windows and stains driveways elsewhere on these blocks, and on painted wood it shows up as a dull, gritty film rather than a bright stain. Soft washing lifts most of it in one pass. What it won't do is stop it coming back if the head is still aimed at the house - redirecting the spray is the actual fix.

Mature Canopy Keeps North Walls Damp Long Enough for Algae to Take Hold

The elm and maple canopy around campus is some of the oldest street tree cover in Caldwell, and a north-facing wall shaded most of the day under it dries out a lot slower than a wall catching full sun. That extra dampness is exactly what algae needs to get started, so you'll see greenish-black streaking and blotching on shaded walls here well before it shows up on a sunnier house across the street. It tends to concentrate under eaves and downspouts where drip keeps the siding wet longest. A wash pulls it off clean, but a shaded north wall under mature canopy will start showing color again faster than the rest of the house - that's the shade doing its job, not a sign the wash didn't hold.

Sun-Facing Walls Chalk Instead of Growing Algae - and That's a Paint Problem, Not a Stain

The south and west walls on these older houses see the opposite issue. Decades-old paint breaks down under UV and starts chalking - a powdery white residue that rubs off on your hand if you touch the siding. A wash removes the loose chalk and the wall looks noticeably better, but here's the honest part: chalking is the paint binder failing, not dirt sitting on top of good paint, and no amount of washing puts a fresh coat back on. If your sun-side siding chalks heavily right after we clean it, that's us showing you what the paint actually looks like underneath the grime, not something we caused. On a house that old, it's usually a sign a repaint is coming due within a season or two, and we'll tell you straight if that's what we're seeing.

Rental Turnover and Tight Lots Change How the Job Gets Booked

A big share of the housing near campus turns over on a lease cycle, so we hear from property managers and landlords here about as often as owners - move-out washes before a listing goes up, move-in cleans before students arrive in August, and standing Quarterly service to keep a rental presentable between tenants. Narrow side yards and on-street parking are common on these older lots, so flag it at booking if access is tight and we'll plan hose routing around it. House washing runs $0.18 per square foot, soft-wash only, safe on wood, vinyl, or fiber-cement. Reflekt is Hunter Stevens and Ethan Seusy, founded 2025, fully insured, 4.9 stars across 125+ Google reviews. Memberships run Monthly or Quarterly with no contract, every wash carries our 7-Day Rain Guarantee, and next-day slots are usually available. Call (208) 453-6760.