House soft washing in Spray Beach

How it normally gets spotted

• Green or grey film on the shaded side of the house that a hose will not touch
• Dark spotting on soffits and porch ceilings that has spread since last summer
• A salt haze that dulls the whole elevation facing the ocean

Why this comes up in Spray Beach

Here is what makes Spray Beach particular: ocean exposure on the east blocks and sheltered, shaded bay lots on the west, with a band of older, heavily planted properties in between that hold moisture well into the day.

Spray Beach is a section of Long Beach Township on the south end, grown up around a nineteenth-century hotel site north of Beach Haven borough, and that shapes what turns up on these walls.

Practicalities in Spray Beach

Lots are wider than the central island but the older houses have porches, railings, lattice and trim details that add hours no measurement of square footage captures.

Coating work needs a permit through Long Beach Township, and no municipality in New Jersey will issue one to an unregistered contractor.

What a crew will actually do

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.