How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option once your home starts looking drab and dated. Within hours, your home can be renewed to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from home improvement stores, or you can hire a League City pressure washing service. It will be costly upfront, but you don’t need to deal with returning rented equipment or the risk of damaging your home 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 can break windows, damage siding and ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful about how often you power 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 based on that location.
Most pros recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tries to tell you that more frequent services are necessary is just trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love how it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can power wash your home multiple times a year.
By just touching the wood or siding of your home, you will be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain your home permanently if it isn’t washed off periodically, so you might have to change from a planned schedule if you notice excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough will leave your home looking dirtier far more than it should. It’s important to note that home building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you don’t need to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging ahose. Power washing can be accomplished 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 home. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for them to create colonies on your exterior, particularly on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get as much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
And, power washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below items can impact the appearance of a home. All are factors that need to be considered before you call a nearby pressure washer or attempt the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and 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 rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are bigger problem in some areas than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what type of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it might 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 problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The processes used for pressure washing are unique to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or paint) and the section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing company will use soft washing instead of power washing to protect the roof shingles. Additionally, the results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the best time to have your home pressure washed is just as important as determining how often the service should be completed. There are different times during 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
Do not waste your money on power washing in a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with mud splatter and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is the most useful at the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t have your home pressure washed while you are having different projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding might not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it will normally be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, disrupting 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 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 not one that is extremely hot. This is the perfect condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning products onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you are in an home owner’s association, there might be rules about how regularly you have your home power washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a professional. You might only be under HOA rules regarding how your home appears, but it’s ultimately up to you to keep it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways 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 built up dirt and stains.