Adulting doesn't get easier. You just get more used to doing it. In my latest adventure in…read morepretending to be a functioning adult, I realized that I needed to get my house washed. Thanks to the naturally rocky soil in Nashville, we're plagued by the wooden weed called the hackberry tree. If you have too many of those damn trees by you, you, your home, your car, and everything else will be covered in black soot. I think that black soot has something to do with aphid waste but I try not to think about it so I don't go crazy. So, living on the east side = being covered in disgusting black waste. Yay.
As much pride as I take in my home, I could take more. I should take more. Home maintenance is no joke. It's a constant grind. Something is *always* requiring your attention. Thus, pressure washing. I was a bit dubious of it after reading article after article about the potential danger to your home it can cause but after seeing how much better my neighbor's house looked after having it done, I knew I couldn't put it off any longer.
I did my research and came upon The Pressure King. I liked that pressure washing was their specialty. When needing something specific, go to someone who just does that which you need. It's a safe rule. I filled out their online form and received a telephone call in return. I was a bit surprised that I could get a quote without having someone out to eyeball my house. I was a bit concerned but tucked away that concern because 1.) they warranty their work for a year and 2.) after doing only this, they probably know what they're doing. I made the appointment and went about my day. Cleaning day came and it was 34 degrees. Oh dear. I'd read that low temps can jank up pressure washing. My tech was professional, on time and very polite but none of that can overcome low temps. He washed the house and checked in with me about what I thought. We both noted that it wasn't very clean. He called in to his boss, recalibrated the mixture and water temp and redid his work. We got much better results but the (white) wood on my porch and deck was still pretty gray. Wondering if that's just the way it was, I started scrubbing the wood with a paper towel and leftover chemicals (not very smart of me) and noted that the dirt came off. The tech and I spent some time scrubbing the wood but my hand cramped and he had other jobs. He apologized and said he would tell his boss about the difficulties.
To their credit, both the owner and scheduler were apologetic and offered to take some money off my bill. Additionally, if I sent photos, they said they'd consider sending someone out to fix the work. Awesome. I sent the photos and they rescheduled another clean. I mentioned that I wanted to be home to make sure only the deck/porch wood got treated. In cleaning my home the first time, some of the stain came off my front door. I know it wasn't done on purpose but it was a new problem I would have to fix. In having that conversation, though, I was told that for the purposes of house cleaning, my deck was an extra fee. I didn't quite get it. Decks aren't a part of the house? This is when, I think, having someone giving a quote in person would be helpful so that they could see what they're talking about. Not wanting to take on added cost, I told them to forget about the dirty wood on the back on my home and just do the front. The scheduler mentioned that she hated for the work to be half-done. I agreed but I wasn't going to pay more for a treatment I'd already paid for -- especially when realizing that scrubbing wasn't part of this service. The original tech came out, apologized for the communication breakdown and did his thing on the front of the house (what he was able to work on; turns out part of my porch wasn't considered part of the home wash quote).
As much as I appreciated the interest in getting the job done, I was left a bit confused about what was and wasn't part of my home. Rather than belabor the point, I'll just look for a painter (I need to get my front door re-stained) and call it a day. I'm still 85% satisfied with the work and feel confident giving my experience 4 stars. As is the case in most things home related, go over everything beforehand, during, after... and do it all again.
