How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast fix once your house starts to look drab and dated. Within hours, your house can be restored to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Lehigh Acres pressure washing service. It can be a little more costly upfront, but you won’t have to deal with bringing back equipment or the risk of harming your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as quickly as it can clean it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy roof shingles. Therefore, you really have to be careful about how often you pressure wash your house and who you hire to 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 house is and environmental factors based on that location.
Most pros will recommend having your house pressure washed once a year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tries to tell you that more frequent cleanings are needed is just trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love the way it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your house many times a year.
By touching the wood or siding of your house, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain the outside of your house permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you might have to deviate from a set schedule if you start to see excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be detrimental, but not doing it enough will leave your house looking dirtier far more than it should. It’s important to note that home building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to protect your house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is a lot safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you won’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging ahose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and make their way into your house. They are not easy to remove, yet it is extremely easy for them to grow into colonies on your home, particularly on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
And, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can negatively impact the appearance. They are all factors that need to be considered before you call a professional pressure washer or attempt the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If your home is in an area that is rainy, you might also have wind and rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a threat in some areas than in others. Living in a more rural area or next to an unpaved road will factor into what types of environmental factors impact your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your house pressure washed, it might be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water doesn’t do any more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The methods 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 technician will use soft washing instead of pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. Also, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the optimal time to have your house pressure washed is almost as important as determining how often the service should be performed. There are times throughout the year when pressure washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing can help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste your money on professional pressure washing during a rainy season. You’ll end up with mud stains and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is 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 house pressure washed while you are having different projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding might not be fastened into place during a repair like it will 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 cost-effective way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the easiest answer for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a sunny day, but not one that is extremely hot. This is the best condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s exterior.
If you are in an HOA, there might be requirements about how regularly you have your house pressure washed or whether you can do it on your own or if you are required to hire a professional. You might only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your house appears, but it’s really up to you to have it looking good.
Power washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done right, it is safe for several surfaces and can get rid of months of built up dirt and stains.