Pressure washing costs in Cincinnati

On an older Cincinnati house, look at the paint before anyone looks at the dirt. The federal government banned the sale of lead-based paint for homes in 1978, and EPA says a house built before then is more likely to have it.

A pressure washer aimed at a flaking porch rail or clapboard wall will lift loose paint along with the grime. Ohio EPA's fact sheet for mobile power washers covers what happens next. Paint chips that come off a building have to be collected and disposed of properly, and they can't be left on the ground. Before anyone washes old paint off a building, the sheet says, they need to know the U.S. EPA and Ohio Department of Health rules on lead.

The wash water counts too. Ohio EPA treats power washing wastewater as industrial wastewater, even when the soap is biodegradable. It can't be sent into a storm sewer, and it can't be left to pool on a driveway and dry.

The city's Health Department tracks what old paint leaves behind. Its 2025 lead report, dated June 2026, names porches and stairways among the places where lead chips and dust often turn up. It also says lead from old paint settles in the soil near buildings and doesn't break down over time. When a child under six has a blood test that comes back at 10 micrograms per deciliter or higher, the department tests the home's paint, dust, soil and water, and the Cincinnati Board of Health issues the owner orders to fix lead hazards.