How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option once your house starts to look drab and dated. Within just a few hours, your house can be returned to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Chesapeake pressure washing service. It might be a little more costly upfront, but you won’t have to deal with returning equipment or the risk of harming your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home just as quickly as it can clean it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful how often you power wash your house 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 heavily on where your house is located and environmental factors based on that location.
Most pros will encourage having your house pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tries to tell you more frequent cleanings are necessary is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love the way it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can power wash your house many times each year.
By just touching the exterior of your house, you will be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain the outside of your house permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you might have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing often can be detrimental, but not doing it enough can leave your house looking lackluster more than it should. It’s important to note that modern building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your house between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you won’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Power washing can be completed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your house. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is extremely easy for these things to create colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get as much direct sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
And, power 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 of a home. They are all factors that have to be considered before you hire a professional pressure washer or attempt the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in an area that is rainy, you might also have powerful wind and rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a problem in some areas of Chesapeake than in others. Living in a more rural area or next to 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 might be a smart idea to have chipped siding replaced so the high water pressure doesn’t do any more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment 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. Also, the results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the best time to have your house pressure washed is as important as deciding how often the service has to be performed. There are different times throughout the year when power washing would be a real waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing might help you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on power washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with muddy stains and mildew at the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is most impactful 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 other work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding might not be tightened into place during a renovation or repair like it would normally be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, prolonging the ongoing work and even trapping water below building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a great way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the simple answer for all your home’s exterior 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 extremely hot. This is the perfect condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s surfaces.
If you have an HOA, there might be rules about how often you have your house power washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a local service. You might only be under HOA guidelines concerning how your house looks, but it’s ultimately up to you to have 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 the right way, it is safe for several home surfaces and can eliminate months of dirt and stains.