How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option when your home starts to look drab and dated. Within hours, your home can be returned to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Pompano Beach pressure washing service. It will be a little more costly upfront, but you won’t have to deal with bringing back equipment or the risk of damaging your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as fast as it can clean it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you have to be careful about how often you pressure wash your home 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 on where your home is located and weather factors around that location.
Most pros encourage having your home pressure washed each year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing pro that tells you more frequent cleanings 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 after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home many times each 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 your home permanently if it isn’t removed periodically, so you might have to deviate from a set schedule if you start to see excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it enough will leave your home looking lackluster more than it should. It’s necessary to note that home building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to protect your home between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you don’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that can eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your home. They are not very easy to remove, yet it is extremely easy for them to grow into colonies on your house, particularly on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
And, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can impact the appearance. All are factors that have to be considered before you decide to hire a professional pressure washer or attempt the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events can 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 rain splashing mud on the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be bigger problem in some areas than in others. Having a home in a rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it might be a good idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high water pressure won’t do more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The processes 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 service will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. Additionally, the results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the correct time to have your home pressure washed is almost as important as determining how often the service needs to be performed. There are different times during the year when pressure washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing can help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste your money on pressure washing in a rainy season. You’ll end up with mud splatter and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, for 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 different projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding might not be tightened into place during a repair like it will normally be, so you run the risk of damaging the area, prolonging the ongoing work and even trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a great way to increase your home’s 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 blazing hot. This is the optimal condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning products onto your home’s exterior.
If you live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there might be rules about how regularly you have your home pressure washed or if you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a local company. You might only be under HOA rules regarding how your home appears, but it’s really up to you to keep it looking maintained.
Power 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 several surfaces and can eliminate months of dirt and stains.