How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option once your home starts looking drab and outdated. Within hours, your home can be renewed to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from many home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Houston pressure washing service. It will be a little more expensive upfront, but you won’t have to deal with returning equipment or run the risk of damaging your home 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 ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you have to be careful about how often you pressure 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 heavily on where your home is and environmental factors based on that location.
Most professionals recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tries to tell you that more frequent cleanings are needed is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your home, 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 will be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain the outside of your home permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you may have to change from a planned schedule if you notice too much buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing often can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough can 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 types of 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 exterior of your home because you don’t have to climb a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Pressure washing can be done from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your home. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is extremely easy for these things to create colonies on your exterior, particularly on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
And, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that need to be considered before you decide to call a local pressure washer or try to do the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If you live 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 are sometimes bigger problem 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 home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it may be a good idea to have damaged siding repaired so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Pressure 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 wood) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing company will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. And, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the best time to have your home pressure washed is as important as choosing how often the service should be completed. There are certain times during the year when pressure washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service could benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste your money on professional pressure washing in a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with mud splatter and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is the most impactful 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 while you are having different projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding may not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it will normally be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, prolonging the ongoing work and even trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a cost-effective way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the simple 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 best condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you are in an HOA, there may be guidelines about how regularly you have your home pressure washed or if you can do it on your own or if you are required to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA guidelines concerning how your home looks, but it’s really up to you to have it looking maintained.
Pressure washing is one of the easiest and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for a multitude of surfaces and can get rid of months of dirt and stains.