You can pressure wash a fence or deck in the PNW, and here it is nearly a requirement thanks to moss. But the wrong wand setting does real damage. Here is how to clean it without gouging the wood.
Yes, you can pressure wash it
Yes, you can pressure wash a fence or deck here, and with our climate you probably should now and then. Eight wet months from October to May grow moss and mildew, especially on the north-facing boards that never see sun. A wash clears that off and gets the wood ready for stain. The trick is doing it gently, because a pressure washer is happy to destroy cedar.
Too much pressure wrecks cedar
Cedar is soft. Crank the pressure up, hold the tip close, and you will furr the surface into fuzzy grain or carve actual lines into the board. Once wood is furred, it soaks up water faster and weathers quicker, which is the opposite of the goal. You cannot realistically sand a whole fence back smooth. Better to never gouge it in the first place.
The right PSI, tip, and technique
Keep the pressure moderate, use a wide 40-degree fan tip instead of a narrow one, and stay a foot or so back from the wood. Move with the grain in long, even passes, and keep the wand moving so you never park it in one spot. Let the water do the work, not brute force. Test a hidden section first before you commit to the whole fence.
When to soft-wash instead
For heavy moss and mildew, a soft-wash beats brute pressure. That means a cleaning solution does the work loosening the growth, and you rinse at low pressure. It is gentler on old or thin cedar and it kills moss at the root instead of just blasting the top off. On a fragile fence in Marysville or an aging deck, soft-washing is often the smarter call.
Wash first, then stain
Whatever method you use, washing is step one, not the finish line. Bare, clean wood needs to dry for a few days, then it needs stain or sealer or it just weathers again. Wash, dry, seal, in that order. If you would rather not rent a machine and gamble on your own fence, we do the whole thing and stand behind it with a written warranty.
Common questions
We wash, dry, and seal fences and decks as one job, gentle on the cedar and mean on the moss. And if the boards are too far gone to clean, we'll say so and quote the rebuild honestly.
