How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick fix when your home starts to look drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your home can be restored to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from many home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Santa Monica pressure washing service. It will be costly upfront, but you won’t need to deal with returning rented equipment or run the risk of harming your home because of lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as quickly as it can clean it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you really have 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 on where your home is and weather factors around that location.
Most pros will recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tells you more frequent cleanings are needed is probably trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love how it looks right after a cleaning, you can power wash your home multiple times a year.
By touching the exterior of your home, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain the outside of your home permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you might have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing often 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 building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the outside of your home because you don’t need to climb a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling ahose. Pressure 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 make their way into your home. They are not very easy to remove, yet it is very easy for them 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 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 factors can negatively impact the appearance of a home. All are factors that have to be considered before you call a local pressure washer or think about doing the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If your home is in a rainy area, you might also have powerful wind and rain splashing mud on the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be more of a problem in some areas than in others. Living in a rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what type of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it might be a good idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water doesn’t do more damage. Pressure washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The methods 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 service will use soft washing instead of power washing to protect the roof shingles. Additionally, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the optimal time to have your home pressure washed is just as important as deciding how often the service has to be performed. 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 benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste any money on professional power washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with mud stains and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is most useful 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 other projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding might not be fastened into place during a repair like it would typically be, which means you run the risk of damaging the area, disrupting the other project and trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a cost-effective way to increase your home’s 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
Pick a sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the perfect condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s exterior.
If you live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there might be rules about how often you have your home 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 regarding how your home looks, but it’s usually up to you to keep it looking good.
Pressure washing is one of the easiest and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for most home surfaces and can eliminate months of built up dirt and stains.