Orange County

This is the detail that catches out property managers with sites at both ends of the county. Orange County is split between two regulators.

The northern and central county, Anaheim and Santa Ana through to Fullerton and Orange, falls under the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. The southern county, from roughly Mission Viejo down through San Clemente, is covered by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, which added the south Orange County agencies to its regional MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) permit by Order R9-2015-0001.

Two boards means two sets of expectations about how runoff is managed and what evidence is kept. If you hold a portfolio that straddles the line, the reporting your north county sites produce is not automatically the reporting your south county sites need.

We handle this by documenting to the stricter of the two on every site, so one format works everywhere and nothing has to be redone. Read what these permits actually ask of a private property owner.

Salt air is the constant. Within a few miles of the coast it deposits on glass, anodized aluminum and painted steel continuously, and it holds moisture against the surface long after the marine layer burns off. Left alone it etches glass and lifts paint at the fixings.

Inland, the problem changes character:

• Algae and mildew on shaded north elevations, fed by the marine layer rather than by rain
• Heavy footfall soiling on retail plazas, where gum and spill staining concentrate at entries and food courts
• Irrigation overspray leaving mineral staining and rust runs down stucco and hardscape

Most Orange County work is a soft wash problem, not a high pressure one. Stucco, painted surfaces and tile respond to chemistry and dwell time; hitting them with pressure is what causes the damage owners then pay to repair. See how the method is chosen on our commercial pressure washing page.

• Commercial & Retail Property Regional centers and neighborhood plazas where appearance is the tenant’s shopfront
• Corporate Campuses & Office Parks The Irvine and Newport office corridors, cleaned around occupied buildings
• Hotel & Resort Coastal properties where salt exposure sets the maintenance interval
• HOA & Multi-Residential Common areas, garages and walkways on a board-approved schedule and budget
• Car Dealership & Auto Center Display lots and service drives kept to manufacturer image standards
• Restaurant & Food-Service Grease-loaded pads, enclosures and drive-through lanes

Working from Garden Grove, we cover the county end to end, on both sides of the regulatory line.

• My portfolio has sites in both north and south Orange County. Is that a problem? No, but it is worth knowing they sit under different water boards. We document every site to one standard that satisfies both, so you are not maintaining two sets of records for one portfolio.
• Will pressure washing damage our stucco or painted surfaces? Not if the method is right. Most Orange County exteriors are cleaned by soft washing, which uses chemistry and dwell time at low pressure. High pressure is reserved for concrete and hard surfaces that can take it.
• How often do coastal properties need cleaning? Salt exposure within a few miles of the water usually justifies a quarterly interval on glass and painted metal, against twice a year further inland. We set the interval from the exposure, not from a template.
• Can you work around an open retail center? Yes. Retail work generally runs overnight or before opening, section by section, so no tenant loses a trading day and no walkway is closed during hours.