Pressure washing costs in Miami

Keeping a house's skin covered is part of the housing code in unincorporated Miami-Dade. The county's Minimum Housing Code, which also covers owner-occupied homes, makes owners protect every exterior surface subject to deterioration with paint or another suitable material. A good wash is usually the first step before any new coat goes on.

The county's water rules leave that wash alone. Year-round, lawns can be watered two days a week, set by your house number, and only before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m. Those limits reach every source, from the public utility to private wells, canals and lakes. The same county page says they don't apply to pressure cleaning of paved surfaces. So a crew can work your driveway, patio or pool deck any day of the week, as far as the county's water rules go.

If your sprinklers draw from a well, look low on the walls they hit. A soft wash lifts mildew and dirt, but an orange streak there is often another kind of stain. UF/IFAS says those streaks on the side of a building often come from irrigating with water that's high in iron, and that most Florida well water is. The iron leaves rust deposits on anything the water touches, even the plants.