How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick fix once your house starts looking drab and outdated. Within just a few hours, your house can be restored to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from many home improvement stores, or you can hire Irving pressure washing service. It can be a little more costly upfront, but you won’t need to deal with returning equipment or run the risk of harming your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as fast as it can renew it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about how often you power 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 weather factors around that location.
Most professionals encourage having your house pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tells you more frequent cleanings are necessary is probably trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love the way it looks after a cleaning, you can power wash your house multiple times each year.
By simply touching the exterior of your house, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t washed off periodically, so you may have to change from a planned schedule if you notice excess buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it often enough can leave your house looking dirtier more than it should. It’s necessary to note that building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your house between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is a lot safer than scrubbing the outside of your house because you don’t need to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Pressure washing can be performed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that can eat away at exterior surfaces and make their way into your house. They are not very easy to remove, yet it is extremely easy for them to grow into colonies on your house, especially on the north side where it usually doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
And, power washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that have to be considered before you call a professional pressure washer or think about doing the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in an area that is rainy, you may also have wind and rain splashing mud on the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a problem in some areas than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what types 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 damaged siding repaired so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
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 technician will use soft washing opposed to power washing to protect the shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the optimal time to have your house pressure washed is just as important as deciding how often the service needs to be completed. There are times throughout the year when power washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing can help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on professional power washing during a rainy season. You’ll end up with muddy stains and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is 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 while you are having other projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding may not be fastened into place during a repair like it would normally be, so you run the risk of harming the area, disrupting the other project and trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a helpful way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the easiest solution for all your home’s outside surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the perfect condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s surfaces.
If you have an HOA, there may be requirements about how often you have your house power washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules regarding how your house appears, but it’s really up to you to have it looking good.
Pressure washing is one of the easiest and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for most surfaces and can eliminate years of built up dirt and stains.