Pressure washing costs in Hartford

Hartford writes upkeep into its blight rules. The anti-blight and property-maintenance ordinance posted by the city's Licenses and Inspections office says porches, trim, decks, fences and other exterior surfaces must be kept from decaying and free of graffiti. Substantial peeling, flaking or chipped paint has to be removed and the surface repainted, and exterior wood that isn't naturally decay-resistant has to stay protected by paint or another coating.

The city's preservation guidelines for historic buildings take the gentle road on wood. They say to hand scrape heavily painted trim and siding, and not to use harsh strippers or sandblasting, which damage the wood's surface. On masonry, they put brick and limestone in the low-to-moderate range of 200 to 600 psi, save 600 to 800 psi for very hard stone like marble and granite, and rule out wire brushes. They also say not to wash at all if the water could freeze before the soaked wall dries out.

So if a wash knocks paint loose on your trim, the blight rule covers the bare wood it leaves behind: that wood has to be repainted or otherwise kept coated.