How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option after your house starts to look drab and dated. Within hours, your house can be restored to its beautiful appearance by 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 Tempe pressure washing service. It might be a little more expensive upfront, but you don’t have to deal with bringing back equipment or run the risk of harming your house because of lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as fast as it can beautify it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy roof shingles. Therefore, you really have to be careful how often you pressure 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 environmental factors based on that location.
Most pros encourage having your house pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tells you that more frequent services are needed is just trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your house multiple times a year.
By touching the exterior of your house, you will be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you could have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it often enough will leave your house looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s important to note that building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the outside of your house because you won’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging ahose. Power washing can be done from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that can eat away at home exterior surfaces and make their way into your house. They are not very easy to remove, yet it is really easy for these organisms to grow into colonies on your house, especially on the north side where it doesn’t get as much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your house.
And, pressure washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can negatively impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to hire a nearby pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is in a rainy area, you may also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the side of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes bigger threat in some areas than in others. Living in a rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors affect your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your house pressure washed, it could be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high water pressure doesn’t do more damage. Power washing can also worsen 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 opposed to pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. Also, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the correct time to have your house pressure washed is as important as determining how often the service needs to be performed. There are different times throughout the year when pressure washing would be a real waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing service could benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste 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. Pressure washing is the most beneficial near 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 the same time you are having different work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding could not be tightened into place during a repair like it should normally be, which means you run the risk of harming the area, prolonging the ongoing work and trapping water below building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a great way to increase your 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 bright, sunny day, but don’t choose one that is blazing hot. This is the best condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s surfaces.
If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, there could be guidelines about how often you have your house pressure washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a local company. You may only be under HOA guidelines concerning how your house appears, but it’s usually up to you to keep it looking maintained.
Power washing is one of the easiest and most effective methods to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for most home surfaces and can remove months of dirt and stains.