How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option when your home starts to look drab and outdated. Within hours, your home can be renewed to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from home improvement stores, or you can call a Anaheim pressure washing service. It could be a little more costly upfront, but you won’t have to deal with bringing back equipment or run the risk of damaging your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home just as fast as it can beautify it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful 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 located and environmental factors around that location.
Most professionals recommend having your home pressure washed every 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 home, and if you love how it looks after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home multiple times a year.
By simply touching the wood or siding of your home, you will be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain your home permanently if it isn’t washed off periodically, so you could have to change from a planned schedule if you notice too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes can be detrimental, but not doing it enough can leave your home looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s important to note that building materials, particularly 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 safer than scrubbing the outside of your home because you don’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Power washing can be performed from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your home. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for them to create colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
And, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can impact the appearance. All are factors that must be considered before you decide to call a nearby pressure washer or try to do the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If your home is in a rainy area, you might also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes bigger problem in some areas than in others. Having a home in a rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what types of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it could be a good idea to have chipped siding replaced so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Power washing can also expedite 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 area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing technician will use soft washing instead of pressure washing to protect the shingles. Also, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the right time to have your home pressure washed is as important as deciding how often the service needs to be performed. There are different times during the year when pressure washing would be a real waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing might benefit you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on professional pressure washing in a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with muddy splatter and mildew at the end of the season anyway. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. 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 repair like it would normally be, which means you run the risk of harming the area, disrupting the other project and trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a cost-effective way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the simple 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 extremely hot. This is the optimal condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s surfaces.
If you are in an home owner’s association, there could be guidelines about how often you have your home pressure washed or if you can do it by yourself or if you are required to hire a local service. You might only be under HOA rules regarding how your home looks, but it’s ultimately up to you to have it looking maintained.
Power washing is one of the fastest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for several surfaces and can eliminate months of built up dirt and stains.