How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick solution after your home starts looking drab and dated. Within just a couple of hours, your home can be returned to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from home improvement stores, or you can call a Greenville pressure washing service. It can be expensive upfront, but you won’t have to deal with bringing back rented equipment or run the risk of harming your home because of lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home just as quickly as it can clean it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and destroy roof shingles. Therefore, you really have to be careful how often you pressure 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 a lot on where your home is and environmental factors around that location.
Most professionals encourage having your home pressure washed each year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tells you more frequent services are needed is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love how it looks after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home several times each year.
By simply touching the wood or siding of your home, you should 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 might have to deviate from a planned schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing often can be harmful, but not doing it enough will leave your home looking lackluster more than it should. It’s important to note that home building materials, especially vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your home between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is a lot safer than scrubbing the outside of your home because you do not have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and find their way into your home. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for them to grow into colonies on your house, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can negatively impact the appearance. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to call a professional pressure washer or try to do the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is in an area that is rainy, you may also have powerful wind and rain splashing mud onto the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be more of a problem in some areas than in others. Living in a rural area or next to an unpaved road will factor into what type of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it might be a good idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The techniques used for pressure washing are unique to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or wood) and the section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing company will use soft washing instead of pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the optimal time to have your home pressure washed is just as important as choosing how often the service needs to be completed. There are certain times throughout the year when pressure washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service can benefit you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste money on pressure washing in a rainy season. You’ll just end up with muddy stains and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time of year. 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 plan to have your home pressure washed while you are having different work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding might not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it should normally be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, disrupting the other project and even trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a smart way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the simple answer 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 extremely hot. This is the perfect condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning products onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you have an HOA, there might be requirements about how often you have your home pressure washed or if you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your home appears, but it’s ultimately up to you to have it looking good.
Power washing is one of the most common and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for a multitude of home surfaces and can remove months of built up dirt and stains.