How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option once your house starts to look drab and outdated. Within hours, your house can be renewed to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from home improvement stores, or you can call a Boca Raton pressure washing service. It will be a little more expensive upfront, but you won’t have to deal with bringing back rented equipment or the risk of harming your house 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 can break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about 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 heavily on where your house is located and environmental factors based on that location.
Most pros will recommend having your house pressure washed once a year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tells you that more frequent cleanings are necessary is probably trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your house multiple times each year.
By touching the wood or siding 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 removed from time to time, so you may have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough will leave your house looking dirtier far more than it should. It’s important to note that modern building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the outside of your house because you won’t have to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Power washing can be completed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and find their way into your house. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is extremely easy for them to grow into colonies on your exterior, particularly on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
And, pressure washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below items can negatively impact the appearance of a home. All are factors that need to be considered before you call a local pressure washer or attempt the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If you live in an area that is rainy, you might also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a threat 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 affect your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your house pressure washed, it may be a good idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high water pressure doesn’t do more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The processes 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 service will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the right time to have your house pressure washed is as important as deciding how often the service should be completed. 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 might help you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste your money on professional pressure washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with mud stains and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is 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 house pressure washed while you are having other projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding may not be fastened into place during a repair like it will typically be, so you run the risk of harming 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 answer 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 extremely hot. This is the optimal condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s surfaces.
If you live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there may be requirements about how often you have your house pressure washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a local company. You might only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your house appears, but it’s ultimately up to you to keep it looking maintained.
Power washing is one of the most common and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for several surfaces and can eliminate years of built up dirt and stains.