How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick solution after your home starts looking drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your home can be returned 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 Pearland pressure washing service. It might be expensive upfront, but you won’t need to deal with returning equipment or run the risk of harming your home because of lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home just as fast as it can beautify it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you really have 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 on where your home is located and weather factors based on that location.
Most pros recommend having your home pressure washed each year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing pro that tries to tell you that more frequent services are needed is probably 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 home multiple times a year.
By touching the wood or siding of your home, you should 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 deviate from a planned schedule if you start to see excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough will leave your home looking dirtier more than it should. It’s necessary to note that building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials 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 won’t need to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Power washing can be done from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that can eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your home. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is extremely easy for these organisms to grow into colonies on your house, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can negatively impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that have to be considered before you hire a professional pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in a rainy area, you might also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud on the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be more of a threat in some areas of Pearland 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 smart idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high pressure water won’t do more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The methods used for pressure washing are specific to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or wood) and the section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing company will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the shingles. Additionally, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the correct time to have your home pressure washed is as important as determining how often the service has to be completed. There are certain times during the year when pressure washing would be a total waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service might benefit you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste money on pressure washing during a rainy season. You’ll just end up with mud stains and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an 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 work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding may not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it will normally be, so you run the risk of damaging the area, disrupting the other project and even trapping water under 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 not one that is very hot. This is the perfect condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you have an HOA, there may be requirements 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 company. You might only be under HOA rules concerning how your home looks, but it’s usually up to you to have it looking good.
Power washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for a multitude of surfaces and can eliminate months of built up dirt and stains.