Our Process · Chemistry · Surface Protocols
How We Work — The FCPE Process
The Gold Standard, Every Time.
Most of our competitors won’t show you what’s in the tank. We will. Below is exactly what touches your property — every dilution, every dwell time, every rinse step — and the reasoning behind each choice. Because the difference between a good wash and a $5,000 mistake is rarely effort. It is chemistry.
Step One — The Pre-Walk
A twelve-minute walk that prevents a $5,000 mistake.
Before a single ounce of chemistry is mixed, a trained exterior specialist walks your property — slowly. Not to admire it. To map every variable that changes the recipe. The pre-walk is where the job is actually won or lost. It is also the step almost every cheap competitor skips, because skipping it lets them quote in thirty seconds over the phone.
Here is exactly what we look for, and why each item changes what we mix and how we apply it:
- Surface material confirmationHardie plank reads similar to vinyl from the curb but tolerates very different chemistry. Stucco hides hairline cracks that hide moisture pockets. Painted wood is not stained wood. We touch every elevation and confirm before mixing.
- Plant, pet, and koi-pond proximitySodium hypochlorite drift is real. We map every azalea bed, every dog run, every koi pond, every vegetable garden. Pre-saturation and post-rinse plans are written before we open a valve.
- Irrigation control valvesWet sprinkler heads during a soft-wash mean diluted chemistry running where it should not. We locate the controller and shut zones down for the duration of the visit.
- Painted surfaces and recent stainingFresh paint, fresh stain, or a deck sealed in the last 90 days changes the dwell-time ceiling. Long dwell on fresh stain lifts pigment. We document the date when possible and adjust.
- Stucco hairline cracksHairlines invisible from ten feet are obvious from twelve inches. Cracks turn surface chemistry into wall-cavity chemistry. We mark them, soften the spray pattern, and reduce concentration in the affected band.
- Window seals, screens, and lanai cagesOlder windows with failing glazing leak. Pool cages with rusted fasteners stain. Both get noted, both get protected, and both get communicated to the homeowner before work begins.
Twelve minutes. That is the entire pre-walk. It is the cheapest insurance policy in the trade.
Step Two — Soft-Wash Chemistry, By Surface
The dilutions, the dwell times, the rinse steps.
Every surface on your property has a different tolerance, a different organism load, and a different optimal recipe. There is no universal mix. The numbers below are the actual ranges trained exterior specialists work within — published openly because the trade has nothing to hide. If a competitor will not share theirs, ask why.
Roof — Asphalt Shingle
- Active
- Sodium hypochlorite, 1–3% working concentration
- Surfactant
- Surfactant blend to extend dwell + improve plant rinse
- Pressure
- None. Soft-wash applicator only. Pressure on shingles strips granules.
- Dwell
- 15–25 minutes. Foliage check at 8 minutes.
- Rinse
- Light rain rinse. No mechanical pressure on the field.
- Standard
- ARMA Technical Bulletin TB-3 compliant.
Siding — Hardie / Vinyl / Wood
- Active
- Sodium hypochlorite, 0.5–1% working concentration
- Pressure
- Approx. 40 PSI. Soft-wash tip, never a turbo nozzle.
- Plants
- Pre-saturate beds with fresh water before any chemistry contact.
- Dwell
- 5–10 minutes. Visual check on shaded elevations sooner.
- Rinse
- Top-down low-pressure rinse. Mandatory plant post-rinse on every bed within drift distance.
- Wood note
- For natural cedar or stained wood, we drop concentration further and follow the grain only.
Stucco
- Active
- Sodium hypochlorite, 0.25–0.5% only
- Why so low
- Stucco is alkaline. Over-mixed chemistry attacks the binder; the wall begins to eat itself. We have seen pitting after a single high-concentration wash.
- Spot test
- Always. A two-foot patch on a hidden elevation, dwelled and rinsed, before the elevation goes wide.
- Wand distance
- Never within six inches of the surface. Fan tip only.
- Hairline cracks
- Bypass with a soft brush technique. No injection pressure into the wall cavity.
Concrete — Driveway / Walkway
- Organic load
- Sodium hypochlorite, 1–2% working concentration
- Stain load (rust, tannin, leaf print)
- Sodium percarbonate as primary, hypochlorite as secondary. Percarbonate is the stain lifter; hypochlorite is the kill step.
- Tool
- Surface cleaner attachment, never an open wand. The wand leaves stripes; the surface cleaner is uniform.
- Pressure
- 3000–3500 PSI at the unit, dropped at the surface by the rotating jets.
- Dwell
- 10–15 minutes pre-clean for organic load.
- Rinse
- Final rinse must end at the lowest point, away from beds.
Pool Deck — Cool-Deck / Kool-Krete
- Active
- Sodium percarbonate only. Never sodium hypochlorite.
- Why
- Hypochlorite eats the polymer binder that holds the cool-deck texture together. One careless wash and the texture begins to powder. Percarbonate cleans without attacking the binder.
- Pressure
- Soft-wash applicator. No surface cleaner. No pressure wand.
- Dwell
- 10–20 minutes depending on staining.
- Rinse
- Generous rinse to flush the percarbonate residue. Pool chemistry is checked the next day; we leave a note for the homeowner.
Pavers — Pre-Seal Wash
- Active
- Sodium hypochlorite, 1–1.5% working concentration with surfactant
- Joint material
- Joint angular sand only on FCPE jobs. We do not use hardening joint products — the explanation is in the sand-and-seal section below.
- Pressure
- Surface cleaner first, hand-wand for edges and patterns.
- Dwell
- 10–15 minutes for organic load. Heavier biological growth gets a second pass before sand.
- Drying
- Minimum 24 hours fully dry before sealer. Moisture meter check on shaded elevations.
Step Three — Surface Protocols
The seven rules that never bend.
Recipes change by surface. Protocols do not. These seven rules apply on every visit, every property, every season — because they are the rules that prevent the avoidable damage.
- Rule 01 — Plant pre-saturate, every timeEvery plant bed within drift distance of any chemistry application gets fresh-water saturation before we open a valve. Saturated foliage cannot absorb concentrated chemistry; dry foliage will.
- Rule 02 — Plant post-rinse, every timeThe pre-saturate prevents absorption. The post-rinse removes residue. Both are non-negotiable. We do not leave a property with chemistry sitting on leaves.
- Rule 03 — Garden silicone on irrigation heads when strippingSand-and-seal strip work generates aggressive runoff. Irrigation heads buried in beds get a small ring of garden silicone applied to the cap before strip pressure begins, peeled off after rinse. Cheap insurance against a stuck head and a re-pop charge.
- Rule 04 — Painted surfaces: 90-second dwell ceilingPaint is pigment + binder, and binders soften in extended hypochlorite contact. Ninety seconds is the working maximum. If the surface is not clean at ninety seconds, we re-apply rather than extend the original dwell.
- Rule 05 — Stucco: never wand within six inchesStucco texture is fragile. A wand inside six inches strips the lime layer and exposes the substrate. We hold every wand at twelve to eighteen inches and use fan tips, never turbo nozzles.
- Rule 06 — Hardwoods: water-only, follow the grainStained or sealed hardwood decking gets a water-only soft wash unless the homeowner has specifically requested a brightener treatment. We follow the grain. Cross-grain wash lifts fibers and roughens the finish.
- Rule 07 — Glass: top-down, sub-30 PSI, soft-bristle attachmentGlass cleans cleanest from the top down so streaks rinse away rather than pool. Pressure stays under thirty PSI. The brush attachment is dedicated, soft-bristle, and lives in a sealed bag between visits to keep it free of grit.
What Is NOT In Our Tank
Five things to fear from the cheap quote.
Sodium hypochlorite, applied at the right concentration with the right dwell and the right rinse, is one of the safest cleaning agents on the market. The list below is what we explicitly refuse to use, and what to ask any competitor before they spray your property.
No Muriatic Acid
Muriatic acid cleans concrete fast. It also etches the cement, eats rebar exposure points, kills surrounding grass, and burns lungs. There is no exterior application on a residential property where muriatic is the right answer.
No Pool Chlorine on Roofs or Stucco
Pool chlorine and sodium hypochlorite are different chemistries despite the kitchen-table conversation. Pool chlorine carries stabilizers (cyanuric acid) that are not formulated for vertical surfaces. We use professional-grade sodium hypochlorite, not pool-aisle product.
No Trisodium Phosphate on Outdoor Wood
TSP works on interior paint prep. On outdoor wood, the alkalinity raises the grain and dulls the natural color. We never use TSP on decks, pergolas, fences, or wood siding.
No Salt-Based Ice Melt on Sealed Surfaces
Northeast Florida rarely needs ice melt. When it does, sodium chloride and calcium chloride both attack the sealer film we have applied to your driveway or pavers. The advisory ships with every sealer job: sand or kitty litter for traction, never salt.
No hardening joint products
hardening joint products is the industry default and the reason so many paver patios crack and lift in their fourth and fifth year. The polymer binder ages out, traps moisture, and pulls jacks of sand up with the seasonal swelling. We use joint angular sand only. Section below.
Step Four — Sand & Seal Protocol
The reason we cost more on pavers, and the reason we are worth it.
Sanding and sealing pavers is the single service in our catalog where we will not be the cheap quote. The work is exacting, the chemistry is unforgiving, and the difference between a good seal and a bad one will show in eighteen months. Below is the actual sequence.
Joint Sand — Angular, Never hardening joint-product
Joint angular sand interlocks mechanically and stays put under the sealer film. hardening joint products depends on a polymer binder that hardens, ages, cracks, and traps moisture. We use joint angular sand on every paver job, full stop.
Strip Method — When Required
If a previous sealer has failed (milky, peeling, hazed), we strip before re-sealing. Two passes maximum — more than two and we are abrading the paver itself. Each pass: apply, dwell, neutralize, rinse, evaluate.
Re-Clean After Strip
The strip removes failed sealer. It does not remove the organic load underneath. After strip we run a fresh soft-wash pre-seal cycle on the now-bare paver to remove any biological growth that was trapped under the old film.
Re-Sand the Joints
Joint sand pulled out by the strip cycle is replaced. Sand is brushed in, tamped, and back-blown to set the line just below the chamfer. A patio sealed with low joints will pool water and hold algae.
Sealer Selection By Surface
SureBond for high-traffic driveways. professional-grade sealer SB-7700 for color enhancement on natural stone. EZ-Seal Wet Look when the homeowner wants the saturated, wet appearance on travertine and bluestone. We do not pick a sealer by what is on the truck. We pick by what the surface needs.
Cure Window — Strict
Twenty-four hours dry. Forty-eight hours pet traffic. Seventy-two hours vehicle. Seven full days for the film to reach its hardness ceiling. We hand the homeowner a printed cure card; the card is the warranty.
Re-Seal Interval — Eighteen to Thirty Months
UV exposure, traffic load, and irrigation overspray determine when the film thins. Driveways in full sun get re-sealed at eighteen to twenty-four months. Shaded back patios push to thirty. The cure card includes the next-seal date.
The Guarantee
Three pillars. No fine print.
More than a century of combined expertise stands behind every visit. Our guarantee is short, deliberate, and on the page where you can read it without scrolling through legal language.
We Re-Do What Is Not Right
Any callback within fourteen days of the visit is free. No deductible, no inspection fee, no negotiation. We come back and we make it right.
Documented & Insured
One million dollars general liability. Workers’ compensation in force on every property. Certificate of insurance available on request before any work begins.
Photo Record, Every Visit
Before and after photo set delivered to the homeowner after every visit, alongside the completion checklist. Your records, your peace of mind, your re-seal interval timer.
Frequently Asked
Five honest questions, five honest answers.
How do I know it is actually that dilution percentage in your tank?
Ask for the SDS — the Safety Data Sheet — for whatever sodium hypochlorite product is on the truck. The label tells you the stock concentration. From there, the working dilution is mix-water plus stock, and any trained exterior specialist can show you the math at the truck. If a contractor cannot or will not pull the SDS, that is your answer.
How often does plant damage actually happen?
When the pre-saturate and post-rinse protocol is followed, plant damage is rare — we run dozens of properties a week and see meaningful incidents on a small fraction of one percent. The damage that does happen almost always traces to a missed rinse on a hot day, which is why post-rinse is a standing rule, not a judgment call.
Why does it smell like a swimming pool?
Because chemically, it is the same family. Sodium hypochlorite is the active in pool shock and in our soft-wash mix. The smell is the chlorine off-gassing during dwell. It dissipates within an hour of the final rinse on most properties and is gone entirely by the next morning.
Why not pressure-wash everything? Pressure is fast.
Pressure removes what is on the surface. Soft-wash kills what is in the surface. On asphalt shingles, pressure strips granules and shortens roof life. On stucco, pressure pits the texture. On wood, pressure raises the grain. There are surfaces where pressure is the right tool — concrete driveways with a surface cleaner, paver pre-wash — but those are the exceptions, not the rule.
How long is a typical visit on site?
A standard exterior soft-wash on a 2,400 to 3,200 square-foot home runs three to four hours including pre-walk, plant prep, application, dwell, rinse, and post-rinse. Sand-and-seal projects run a half-day to a full day depending on square footage and whether a strip is involved. We are the trade that respects your time, but never the trade that rushes the dwell.
Ready For The Trade That Shows Its Work
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The Gold Standard, Every Time.