Soft washing on Sanibel Island.

Sanibel is heavily vegetated by design — the island's conservation ethic keeps lots wooded and canopies intact — and that shade sits over homes taking about the most direct salt on this coast. Salt lands on the siding and holds moisture there, the canopy keeps the sun off, and the result is siding and soffits that stay damp indefinitely and grow accordingly. On the raised piling homes, the underside framing and the soffits go first.

Our soft washing is the only appropriate method on the surfaces the island is built from. Cedar, hardie, and painted siding on a raised home will not take high pressure — it drives water into the seams and behind the boards, and on a piling structure that is the last place you want moisture. A cleaning solution kills the growth, dwells, and rinses at low pressure that the cladding tolerates.

Runoff matters here more than most places, given how close every lot is to wetland and conservation land. Beds get pre-wet, solution is applied at working dilution, and everything is rinsed down behind us. For the pool cage that comes with nearly every island home, lanai cleaning is the matching job. More on the island in Sanibel.