Homeowner goes viral after dividing internet by jetwashing her period home
Watch: Homeowner divides internet by jetwashing her 126-year-old home
There is giving your home a thorough summer clean... and then there is this.
When you need to really eradicate all that grime, nothing gets rid of stains and dust like a jetwash.
One homeowner has divided the internet by having the exterior of her period property power washed, shifting decades of dirt to reveal sparkling original brickwork.
Katie Woods, 45, whose @comedowntothewoods account on Instagram has 282,000 followers, posted a video of her home in Yorkshire being subjected to a rather unusual cleaning process.
In the clip, which has more than 756,000 likes, a professional power washes the front of the house, which was built in 1898, using scaffolding.
The power wash manages to shift a thick layer of black dirt off the property, which Woods is currently renovating.
In her video, she includes some of the negative comments from social media users. One says: "This is stupid, why would you do that?" Another reads: "Completely ruined it."
One commenter said: "That is the history and charm of that home washed away."
However, many other commenters were positive about the cleaning job, with one saying: "People talking about this damaging the history of the building are plain wrong.
"Did the architect intend for it to look this way? Dirty and rundown? No, it's our job to make sure the architect's vision is retained, this is how it should look."
In a comment alongside her clip, Woods said: "People had big opinions on me deciding to evict the 126 years of mould, mildew, grime, smog and dirt from my house. I had no idea it would annoy so many people who don’t even live there.
"Our aim has been to restore this unloved beauty not damage her. The truth is that there’s a fair bit of damage to that stonework and cleaning it is the only way we can expose that damage to get it fixed. And of course we chose a safe gentle steam method."
Woods, who lives in Leeds with her husband and four children, previously worked as a dentist but now creates online content focusing on property renovations. Two videos of the home being power washed have been viewed on TikTok a total of 12 million times.
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She renovated a property called the Smurf House in Devon before tackling the arts and crafts home in Yorkshire that has recently been power washed.
Speaking to Yahoo News UK about the online reaction, Woods said: "Having spent a lot of time on social media over the past eight years, not much normally surprises me but I have to say, I was quite shocked at how many people had very deep feelings about it. It’s been wild!
"The majority of the comments were positive though, people happy that we had taken the time to restore and look after the house. I think the satisfying nature of the video just scratched a brain itch that people didn’t know needed scratching."
She said the washing took one day and she watched it from a camping chair "like it was an outdoor theatre production".
It was decided to only clean the porch area of the house, at a cost of £850, rather than the whole front of the building, which was priced at £4,000.
The Doff system - a more gentle form of cleaning using steam and light pressure - was used to remove the dirt from the building.
Woods has been planning the renovation of the house for the past two and a half years and says she will continue "sharing every step of the journey" on social media.
"There are very few resources out there to learn about renovating," she said.
"It’s something that so many people have to just learn on the job and there are so many mistakes that can be made. Hopefully, posting about my journey will be helpful for those on the same journey."
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