How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast fix when your home starts to look drab and dated. Within hours, your home can be returned to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Hialeah pressure washing service. It could be expensive upfront, but you don’t have to deal with returning equipment or run the risk of harming your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as fast as it can clean it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you have to be careful about how often you power wash your home 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 home is and environmental factors around that location.
Most professionals recommend having your home pressure washed once a year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tells you that more frequent cleanings are necessary is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love the way it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can power wash your home many times each year.
By simply touching the wood or siding of your home, you should be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain the outside of your home permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you could have to deviate from a planned schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be harmful, but not doing it often enough can leave your home looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s important to note that modern building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the outside of your home because you won’t have to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling ahose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and make their way into your home. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for these organisms to form colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
And, power washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than manual hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below items can negatively impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that have to be considered before you call a nearby pressure washer or think about doing 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 might also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud on the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be more of a threat in some areas than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or next to an unpaved road will factor into what types of environmental factors affect your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it could be a good idea to have chipped siding replaced so the high pressure water doesn’t do more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment 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 service will use soft washing opposed to power washing to protect the shingles. Also, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the optimal time to have your home pressure washed is just as important as deciding how often the service should be performed. There are times during the year when power washing would be a real waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing can benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on professional power washing in a rainy season. You’ll end up with mud splatter and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is most beneficial at 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 the same time you are having other work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding could not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it will typically be, which means you run the risk of damaging the area, disrupting the other project and trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a cost-effective way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the easiest answer for all your home’s outside surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Pick a bright, sunny day, but not one that is extremely hot. This is the best condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning products onto your home’s surfaces.
If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, there could be rules about how regularly you have your home power washed or if you can do it by yourself or if you are required to hire a local company. You might only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your home looks, but it’s really up to you to have it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for several surfaces and can remove years of built up dirt and stains.