How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast fix once 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 pressure washing equipment at many home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Oceanside pressure washing service. It can be a little more costly upfront, but you won’t have to deal with bringing back rented equipment or run the risk of harming your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as fast as it can beautify it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about how often you pressure wash your home and who you let 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 will recommend having your home pressure washed once a year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tries to tell you more frequent cleanings are necessary is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love how it looks right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home several 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 your home permanently if it isn’t removed periodically, so you may 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 enough will leave your home 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 types of materials protect your home between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you won’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and make their way into your home. They are not very easy to remove, yet it is very easy for these things to create colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side where it doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can negatively impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to hire a local pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is in a rainy area, you may also have wind and rain splashing mud on the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are more of a threat in some areas than in others. Living in a more rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what type of environmental factors affect your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it may be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water won’t do more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The techniques used for pressure washing are specific to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or wood) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing service will use soft washing instead of pressure washing to protect the shingles. And, the results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the best time to have your home pressure washed is almost as important as determining how often the service should be completed. There are times throughout the year when pressure washing would be a total waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing might benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on professional pressure washing in a rainy season. You’ll end up with mud splatter and mildew at the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is the most impactful near the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t have your home pressure washed the same time you are having different projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding may not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it would normally be, which means you run the risk of damaging the area, prolonging the other project and even trapping water under 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 sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the best condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s surfaces.
If you are in an HOA, there may be rules about how regularly you have your home pressure washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your home appears, but it’s ultimately up to you to have it looking maintained.
Power washing is one of the fastest and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for several surfaces and can eliminate years of built up dirt and stains.