How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option once your home starts to look drab and outdated. Within hours, your home can be returned to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a High Point pressure washing service. It can be expensive upfront, but you won’t need to deal with returning equipment or run the risk of damaging your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home just as fast as it can clean it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful about how often you power wash your home and who you let do it.
Is it Time to Pressure Wash Your Home?
The question of how often to pressure wash your home is one that depends on where your home is and environmental factors around that location.
Most professionals will encourage having your home pressure washed each year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tells you more frequent cleanings are needed is probably trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love the way it looks after a cleaning, you can power wash your home multiple times each year.
By touching the wood or siding of your home, you will be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain your home permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you could have to change from a set schedule if you notice a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough will leave your home looking lackluster more than it should. It’s important to note that building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is a lot safer than scrubbing the outside of your home because you won’t need to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling ahose. Pressure washing can be done from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that can eat away at home exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your home. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is very easy for them to create colonies on your home, especially on the north side where it usually doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
Plus, power washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can negatively impact the appearance. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to call a nearby pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in an area that is rainy, you may also have powerful wind and rain splashing mud on the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be bigger threat in some areas than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what type of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it could be a good idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water doesn’t do more damage. Pressure washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment used for pressure washing are unique to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or paint) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing service will use soft washing instead of power washing to protect the shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the right time to have your home pressure washed is almost as important as deciding how often the service needs to be completed. There are different times throughout the year when power washing would be a total waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing can benefit you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste money on power washing during a rainy season. You’ll just end up with mud stains and mildew at the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is the most useful near the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t have your home pressure washed the same time you are having other work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding could not be tightened into place during a renovation or repair like it should typically be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, prolonging the other project and trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a great way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the simple solution for all your home’s outside surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a bright, sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the best condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s exterior.
If you are in an HOA, there could be rules about how often you have your home power washed or if you can do it on your own or if you are required to hire a local company. You may only be under HOA rules regarding how your home looks, but it’s usually up to you to keep it looking good.
Pressure washing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for most home surfaces and can remove months of dirt and stains.