Treme carries some of the oldest building fabric in the city, and old fabric sets a hard ceiling on how much pressure anything can take.
Treme carries some of the oldest building fabric in the city: early Creole cottages, soft lime mortar, original plaster, and paint that has been built up over generations. Old fabric sets a hard ceiling on pressure. Lime mortar erodes out of a joint far faster than modern cement mortar, and once it is gone the repair is repointing.
The approach is the gentlest thing that works, with the cleaning solution doing the job and the water only applying and rinsing. We check mortar condition before touching a masonry wall and keep the spray off the joints entirely. Where a surface will only partly come clean, we say so before quoting rather than after.
Older masonry here is laid in lime mortar, which is deliberately softer than the brick around it so the wall can move without cracking the brick. That is good building practice and it is also why pressure is so damaging: the mortar is the sacrificial part, and a jet erodes it out of the joint quickly. Once a joint is open, water gets into the wall and the repair is repointing, which on a historic building has to be done in matching lime rather than cement.
So the jet never goes near a joint, the pressure stays at the lowest setting that moves anything, and we check mortar condition before starting rather than discovering it partway through.
On fabric this old, some staining is in the material rather than on it. Decades of atmospheric soiling can be absorbed into soft brick and lime render, and there is no cleaning method that removes it without removing surface along with it. We would rather tell you that a wall will come up eighty percent and stop there than take it to a hundred percent and leave you with an eroded face. Where that is the case we say so at the estimate.
“The outside was a mess, and we had been suffering with all of the algae on it for weeks. They came right on schedule and worked quickly but carefully.”
“Working with Big Easy Pressure Washing was a great experience. The staff are so easy to work with and they always find the time for me, even if it’s short notice.”
“Big Easy Pressure Washing came out to clean my windows and pressure wash the house. I was so impressed with their work! All of it was done quickly and the results were fantastic.”
“My roof had these ugly black streaks for a couple of years. I contacted Big Easy Pressure Washing, and they explained their gentle soft washing process clearly. They cleared the stains safely without lifting any shingles.”
“Our concrete driveway was covered in dark oil stains and years of deep grime. The team arrived right on time and worked incredibly hard. Now, the entrance to our home looks brand new.”
“Our commercial storefront looks amazing now. They cleaned the entire brick facade and sidewalks overnight so it wouldn’t disrupt our daytime customers. They removed layers of chewing gum and atmospheric pollution easily.”
Free written estimate before any work starts.
