Published on: May 12th, 2022

The story behind the Chemwash name begins over 40 years ago, in 1981. We had the goal to bring low-pressure and environmentally sustainable detergents in the exterior house washing industry. We were the first company in New Zealand to use low-pressure for house washing and we’ve been pushing the future ever since!

Low-pressure washing is far better for your house than high-pressure washing, which was the dominant technique at the time. Today many New Zealand exterior cleaning companies have followed in our footsteps and switched to low-pressure methods.

Why Are We Unique?

The Chemwash system has two parts. The first part is our special salt-based detergents that deal with all the dirt and grime. Next, we rinse off the detergent and grime with a comparatively low water pressure of under 1000psi. This ensures that there is no risk of damage to your home, while leaving the same sparkling clean surface.

Rather than detergents, high pressure water blasting uses sheer force to remove dirt and grime. The water pressure for this method is at least 2000psi and can go up as high as 5000psi! This can be abrasive, leaving damage to the surfaces it is cleaning. At Chemwash, to protect your home we avoid high-pressure water blasting and keep our house washing to under 1000psi.

In 1981 we were changing the house washing game and wanted people to know. We needed a name that differentiated us from our competitors and showed that we use detergents instead of force. We decided to work with the fact that we use chemical detergents to wash the houses – the name “Chemwash” was born.

What Chemicals Do We Use?

The exact chemicals we use depend on the needs of the job. They have been specially designed to meet the specific challenges we meet on a daily basis. Occasionally, a job may call for some stronger chemicals, in which case our experienced staff will take absolute care around your property. These jobs are very rare, so we will inform you in advance if we need to use these stronger chemicals.

Are Our Chemicals Safe?

Our salt-based detergents were developed by a leading industrial chemist to be safe to use on any exterior surface. They have also been specially formulated to be environmentally friendly. As part of the development process, they were thoroughly tested to be completely safe around people, pets, and plants. The result is that we use exterior cleaning detergents that are tough on grime but gentle on everything else. Don’t let the name fool you, not all chemicals are harmful!