How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option if your house starts looking drab and dated. Within hours, your house can be returned to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from many home improvement stores, or you can hire a Cary pressure washing service. It might be 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, pressure washing can damage your home just as quickly as it can beautify it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about how often you pressure 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 and environmental factors around that location.
Most pros will encourage having your house pressure washed once a year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tells you more frequent services are needed is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love the way it looks right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your house several times each year.
By touching the wood or siding of your house, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain the outside of your house permanently if it isn’t removed periodically, so you may have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see excess buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing can be harmful, but not doing it often enough will leave your house looking lackluster more than it should. It’s necessary to note that modern building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to protect your house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you don’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging ahose. Pressure washing can be performed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your house. They are not very easy to remove, yet it is very easy for these organisms to grow into colonies on your home, 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 removes more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can negatively impact the appearance of a home. All are factors that need to be considered before you hire a professional pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If your home is in an area that is rainy, you may also have wind and rain splashing mud on the side of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are more of a problem in some areas than in others. Living in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into 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 pressure water won’t do more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment used for pressure washing are specific to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or paint) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing technician will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the shingles. Also, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the right time to have your house pressure washed is almost as important as determining how often the service should be performed. There are different times throughout the year when pressure washing would be a total waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing could benefit you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste your money on professional pressure washing in a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with muddy splatter and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is most beneficial near the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t have your house pressure washed the same time you are having other work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding may not be tightened into place during a repair like it should typically be, so you run the risk of harming the area, disrupting the other project and even trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a great way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the easiest answer for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Pick a bright, sunny day, but don’t choose one that is extremely hot. This is the best 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 may be requirements about how often you have your house pressure washed or if you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your house looks, but it’s really up to you to have it looking maintained.
Pressure washing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for a multitude of home surfaces and can eliminate months of built up dirt and stains.