Your roof will look new — and stay clean for 24 months, guaranteed.
Firehouse SoftWash uses low-pressure, biodegradable chemistry to kill the black streaks at the root and rinse them away at garden-hose pressure. No shingle damage. No blown-off granules. Just a roof that looks like it was installed last spring.
- ★ 4.92 / 5 across 2,840+ verified Google reviews
- EPA Safer Choice chemistry — pet-safe & plant-safe
- SW-7 certified applicators on every crew
Pressure washing strips your shingles. Soft-wash chemistry kills the root cause.
Those black streaks on your roof aren't dirt — they're a living cyanobacteria called Gloeocapsa magma that feeds on the limestone filler in asphalt shingles. A pressure washer blasts the top off and forces water under the laps, but the organism lives on. It grows back in months.
Soft-wash works the other way around. We apply a biodegradable, EPA Safer Choice solution at garden-hose pressure. The chemistry penetrates the colony and kills it down to the root — then we rinse clean. The roof stays clean for years, not weeks.
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Pressure washing strips shingle granules. Those ceramic-coated granules are what protect the asphalt mat from UV. Once they're gone, the shingle ages in months, not decades.
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Pressure forces water under laps and flashing. That trapped moisture becomes a slow leak into the sheathing and the insulation below. You won't see it until the ceiling stains.
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Pressure washing voids most shingle warranties. Owens Corning, GAF, and CertainTeed all explicitly exclude damage from high-pressure cleaning.
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Soft-wash kills the algae at the root. The same chemistry that earns the EPA Safer Choice label, applied by SW-7 certified applicators — and backed by our 24-month no-regrowth warranty.
14,237 roofs cleaned. A few of them are below.
Every photo is a real Firehouse SoftWash job from the last 24 months. We don't crop the angles or fake the after — what you see is what we deliver.
That's a sample of four from the 4,812 roofs we've soft-washed in the last three years alone.
Get My Free Roof Quote →What happens between your quote and your clean roof.
Four steps, one crew, no surprises. Most residential roofs are completed in a single morning.
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Photo-based quote, delivered in ~4 hours
Send us three photos — front, back, and one slope close-up — plus your address. We measure the roof via satellite and return a firm written quote by email within four business hours, often faster. No one comes to your home until you say go.
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Pre-treat rinse & plant protection
On job day, the crew walks the perimeter and pre-wets every plant, shrub, and turf edge. We bag the downspout discharges and stage the recovery tank. Nothing on your property gets exposed to chemistry it isn't prepared for.
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Soft-wash application at garden-hose pressure
An SW-7 certified applicator meters our EPA Safer Choice solution through a low-pressure diaphragm pump. No pressure washer. No wand marks. The chemistry does the work; the water just rinses it away 10–15 minutes later.
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Final rinse, walk-through, and warranty registration
We rinse from the ridge down, recover the chemistry, de-bag the downspouts, and walk the property with you. Your 24-month no-regrowth warranty is emailed that afternoon, registered to your address and roof type.
Straight answers about roof soft-wash.
Will soft-wash hurt my plants, pets, or landscaping?
No. We use EPA Safer Choice chemistry rated for use around people, pets, and ornamentals. Before any application, the crew pre-wets every plant within the spray zone and recovers the rinse solution at the downspouts. For sensitive beds (Japanese maples, azaleas, herb gardens), we'll cover them with breathable tarps during application. We've soft-washed more than 14,000 residential properties without a single plant-loss claim.
How long does a typical residential roof take?
Most homes are completed in 90 minutes to three hours, depending on roof size, pitch, and the severity of the algae growth. A standard 2,000–3,000 square foot ranch is typically done before lunch. We never need to walk on the roof — every application is performed from the eaves and a stabilized ladder.
Is soft-wash safe for asphalt shingles?
Soft-wash is the only cleaning method the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA) actively recommends for algae-stained asphalt shingles. Pressure washing is explicitly excluded by Owens Corning, GAF, and CertainTeed warranty terms. Our chemistry lifts the algae off the shingle surface without disturbing the ceramic granules or the factory sealant strip at the laps.
How long will the results actually last?
On residential asphalt shingle roofs, we back our work with a 24-month no-regrowth warranty. Across our last 2,100+ roof treatments, the median time to first visible regrowth has been 32 months — meaning most roofs stay clean well past the warranty period. Heavily shaded north slopes and roofs near tree cover can regrow faster, which we'll flag during the quote. Other surfaces (concrete, siding, fleet vehicles) are not covered by the 24-month warranty — only residential asphalt shingle roofs.
Do I need to be home for the service?
No. About 80% of our residential customers aren't home during the service. As long as we have access to the exterior hose bib and the driveway for the recovery tank, our crew can complete the job and email you the before/after photos and warranty registration when we're done. We'll text you 30 minutes before arrival and again when we leave.
Are you insured? Can I have a certificate?
Yes. Firehouse SoftWash carries $2 million in general liability insurance plus full workers' compensation coverage. Certificates are emailed the same day you request them — most HOAs, property managers, and commercial clients receive theirs automatically with their quote packet. We're also happy to add your community or management company as an additional insured for the duration of the work.
Why does the price vary so much between homes?
Roof cleaning is quoted by measurable factors — square footage, pitch, number of stories, severity of biological growth, roof material, and accessibility. Two homes of identical square footage can differ by 40% in price if one has a steep 10/12 pitch with multiple gables and the other is a single-story ranch. We don't publish a price-per-square-foot number because it would mislead more than it informs — every quote is firm, written, and based on your actual roof.
This isn't a cosmetic wash. It's preventative maintenance for a five-figure asset.
A complete asphalt shingle roof replacement in the Carolinas runs $12,000 to $18,000 for an average single-family home — more for steep pitches, complex gables, or premium materials. The most common reason roofs are replaced early isn't storm damage or age. It's the slow, invisible decay caused by the same algae streaks you can see from the street.
Gloeocapsa magma doesn't just stain shingles. It retains moisture against the asphalt mat, accelerates granule loss, and shortens the service life of the roof by years. Insurance doesn't cover it. The shingle warranty excludes it. The only thing that addresses it is killing the colony at the root and stopping the cycle.
Across the 2,100+ residential roofs we've soft-washed and tracked over the last decade, the average service life extension falls between five and eight years — meaning a soft-wash today typically defers a $12–18K replacement well into the next decade. Documented across thousands of homes, photographed before and after, registered to a 24-month no-regrowth warranty, and performed by SW-7 certified applicators who do this work every working day.
That's the entire job. A roof that looks new, a roof that lasts longer, and a quote you can request in under a minute.