How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick fix after your house starts to look drab and outdated. Within just a few hours, your house can be returned to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Burbank pressure washing service. It can be a little more costly upfront, but you don’t need to deal with returning equipment or the risk of harming your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as fast as it can renew it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy roof shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about how often you power 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 a lot on where your house is and weather factors based on that location.
Most professionals will recommend having your house pressure washed once a year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tries to tell you that more frequent services are needed is probably 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 power wash your house several times a year.
By touching the exterior of your house, you will be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain the outside of your house permanently if it isn’t removed periodically, so you might have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice too much buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing can be harmful, but not doing it enough will leave your house looking lackluster more than it should. It’s necessary to note that modern building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your house between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you don’t need to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling ahose. Pressure washing can be completed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and make their way into your house. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is extremely easy for these things to form colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
And, power washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can impact the appearance of a home. All are factors that need to be considered before you decide to hire 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 may also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the side of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are more of a threat in some areas than in others. Having a home in a rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors impact your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your house pressure washed, it might be a good idea to have chipped siding replaced so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Pressure washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The methods 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 company will use soft washing instead of power washing to protect the roof shingles. Also, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the right time to have your house pressure washed is as important as deciding how often the service needs to be performed. There are certain times throughout the year when power washing would be a total waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service could help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste your money on power washing during a rainy season. You’ll end up with muddy splatter and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is most useful near 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 work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding might not be tightened into place during a repair like it should typically be, which means 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 helpful 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
Choose a sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the perfect condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there might be rules about how regularly you have your house power washed or if you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a local service. You may only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your house appears, but it’s really up to you to have it looking a certain way.
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 surfaces and can eliminate months of built up dirt and stains.