How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option once your house starts to look drab and dated. Within just a few hours, your house can be renewed to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at many home improvement stores, or you can call a Temple pressure washing service. It can be a little more expensive upfront, but you won’t have to deal with returning equipment or the risk of damaging your house because of 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 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 on where your house is and environmental factors around that location.
Most professionals recommend having your house pressure washed each year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service that tells you that more frequent cleanings 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 house several times a year.
By touching the exterior of your house, you should be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t removed periodically, so you may have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes can be detrimental, but not doing it enough can leave your house looking dirtier more than it should. It’s necessary to note that home building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials protect your house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you don’t 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 most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your house. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is really easy for these organisms to grow into colonies on your exterior, particularly on the north side where it usually doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your house.
And, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can impact the appearance. They are all factors that have to be considered before you decide to hire a nearby pressure washer or attempt the job yourself.
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 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 affect your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your house pressure washed, it may be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water doesn’t do any 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 paint) and the section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing service will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the shingles. And, the results can vary widely.
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 needs to be completed. There are different times throughout the year when pressure washing would be a real waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing could benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste your money on professional pressure washing in a rainy season. You’ll end up with mud 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 at 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 the same time you are having different work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding may not be tightened into place during a renovation or repair like it would typically be, so you run the risk of damaging the area, prolonging the other project and even trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a smart way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the easiest solution for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Pick a bright, sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the perfect condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s exterior.
If you have an HOA, there may be rules about how regularly you have your house pressure washed or whether you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a local service. You might only be under HOA rules regarding how your house looks, but it’s ultimately up to you to keep it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the most common and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for most home surfaces and can get rid of years of dirt and stains.