How-to · wood
Soft-wash mindset: chemistry and dwell first, a wide fan second. A wood fence is not a driveway. The 0° red tip, a turbo nozzle, and a spinning surface cleaner stay off the boards.
This sequence borrows the wide-fan, downstream-soap path from the house-wash kit and the same wood rules as how to pressure wash a wood deck. It is not a concrete job. Size the hole on the orifice chart if your stamped PSI and GPM sit outside the homeowner-gas band, then keep the fan wide.
The sequence
40° white is the workhorse. Hold a foot or more of standoff and keep the fan moving with the pickets. 25° green only on stubborn algae or gray, and only with even more distance. The 0° red tip, a turbo nozzle, and a spinning surface cleaner stay off the wood.
Fence lines sit on landscaping. Soak shrubs and beds first so runoff dilutes. Cover tender plants if you can. Rinse foliage again when you are done. Chemistry that is fine on boards can still burn leaves.
A peroxide house-and-siding concentrate labeled for wood goes through a foam cannon, soap tank, or pump sprayer — after the pump. The inlet still sees water. Bleach, toilet cleaner, and oxidizers never go through the pump.
Sweep grit and popped fasteners first. Foam or spray a wet fence in the shade, dwell a few minutes, and do not let it bake. Rinse with 40° along the grain so you are not driving water behind boards, into post tops, or through the gaps at a neighbor.
Raised grain is normal. Do not chase it with more PSI. Give the fence time to dry — often a day or two, longer in shade — then sand or stain per the coating you picked. Gate hardware and latches get a wipe, not a close-range fan.
Weathered cedar, pine, and pressure-treated pickets want a wide, forgiving fan — the same idea as vinyl siding. White 40° is soap and rinse. Green 25° can lift stubborn algae or gray if you keep distance and keep the wand moving with the grain. Close-range 25°, 15° yellow, and 0° red chew fibers and leave tracks you will see from the yard.
A peroxide house-and-siding concentrate labeled for wood is pump-safe when it never meets the inlet. Foam cannon, soap tank, or pump sprayer — the washer still pumps water. The foam and soap guide is the chemistry path.
Sodium hypochlorite (soft-wash bleach) is a different job and a different risk on wood and landscaping. Do not improvise bleach through the inlet, and do not assume a siding SH mix belongs on a fence line next to beds.
Vinyl wants the same wide-fan, downstream-soap path — only gentler. More standoff, 40° only, and no chasing haze with 25°. Heat plus a close fan can warp panels. Metal and chain-link can take more pressure than wood, but powder coat, paint, and galvanizing still scar. Keep 0° and turbo off coated rails; rinse hardware instead of blasting it.
A surface cleaner cannot stand a fence up. On wood it would gouge anyway. If the pad or walk beside the fence is concrete, that is the driveway how-to and the surface cleaner matrix. The pickets stay on the wand.
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Tip set
Simpson Cleaning 80145 3600 PSI Universal Pressure Washer Nozzles, 1/4-Inch Quick Connect, Set of 5Same 3.0-orifice QC pack as the house-wash kit. On wood you use 40° white and 25° green only, with standoff. Never the 0° red or 15° yellow — they will chew grain.
Fence / siding soap
Simple Green Oxy Solve House and Siding Pressure Washer CleanerPeroxide house-and-siding concentrate labeled for wood (and vinyl, brick, stucco). Downstream or foam path only — the pump still sees water.
Foam cannon
Tool Daily Foam Cannon with 1/4 Inch Quick Connector, 1 LiterDwell tool so soap sits on pickets instead of blasting them. Wants roughly 2+ GPM. Flush it when you are done.
Full short list and siding danger notes live on the house-wash kit. Chemistry path? See foam cannons and soap. Washing the deck instead? How to pressure wash a wood deck. Concrete pad beside the posts? How to pressure wash a driveway.
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