Union County

Tight lots, careful work

A lot of Union County housing sits fifteen or twenty feet apart. That changes how we work: overspray control matters, we cover and rinse the neighbor’s siding and plantings as a matter of course, and equipment goes where it will not block a shared drive. Nobody next door should be able to tell we were there except that your house looks better.

Prewar stucco and painted wood

Westfield, Summit, Cranford and the older sections of Rahway and Plainfield are full of 1920s to 1950s homes — stucco, brick and painted clapboard, much of it with original detailing worth protecting. The rule is simple: the cleaning must never cost more than it restores. That means low pressure everywhere, testing first on painted surfaces, and being straight with you when a wall is chalking so badly that washing will only reveal that it needs paint.

The industrial corridor

Through Linden, Elizabeth and parts of Rahway, exterior soiling is industrial: particulate from the refinery corridor, highway film, and rail dust. It is greasy rather than organic, it bonds hard, and it needs a degreaser rather than a biocide. Commercial buildings along those corridors typically look dramatically better after one proper wash because nothing has ever actually dissolved that film before.

Commercial frontage

The downtown districts — Westfield, Summit, Cranford, Rahway — are walkable retail streets where the sidewalk is the storefront. We do that work overnight or before opening, including gum removal, which on a busy retail block is most of the job. See storefront and retail cleaning.