House soft washing in Barnegat Light

What gets rung about

• Black speckling on white trim, vinyl or PVC that looks like dirt and does not wipe off
• A salt haze that dulls the whole elevation facing the ocean
• Dark spotting on soffits and porch ceilings that has spread since last summer

Why this comes up in Barnegat Light

Nothing on the island takes more raw salt than this end of it. The inlet keeps wind moving across the borough almost constantly, and the spray it carries reaches inland streets that on the rest of the island would be sheltered. Glass here goes hazy within days and the northern and eastern elevations of a house carry a visible chloride film for most of the year.

Barnegat Light is the borough at the very northern tip of the island, wrapped around Barnegat Inlet and a working fishing harbour, and that shapes what turns up on these walls.

Getting the work done in Barnegat Light

Streets are short and run inlet to bay, so a rig can usually be set up close to the work. Parking near the Viking Village docks is the exception, and in scallop season the commercial traffic on Bayview Avenue decides what time of day a crew can be there at all.

Barnegat Light handles permitting for work at this address.

How this gets handled

A soft wash is low pressure and a cleaning solution, not a pressure washer pointed at the house. The crew should be rinsing salt off the elevation before anything is applied, keeping the solution off plantings, and working top down so nothing dries on the way. Pressure is what forces water behind siding and up under shingle butts, and on an island where wind-driven rain already tests every seam, that is the last thing a wall needs.