How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick solution if your home starts to look drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your home can be restored to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at most home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Escondido pressure washing service. It might be a little more costly upfront, but you won’t need to deal with bringing back equipment or run the risk of damaging your home 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 shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about how often you power 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 a lot on where your home is and weather factors around that location.
Most professionals will encourage having your home pressure washed once a year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tells you that more frequent services are necessary is probably trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love the way it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can power wash your home multiple times each year.
By touching the exterior of your home, you should be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain the outside of your home permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you may have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice excess buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing can be harmful, but not doing it often enough can leave your home looking dirtier more than it should. It’s necessary to note that modern building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you do not need to climb a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging ahose. Pressure washing can be done from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your home. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is really easy for these organisms to create colonies on your house, particularly on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
Plus, power washing removes more dirt and grime than hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can impact the appearance of a home. All are factors that have to be considered before you hire a local pressure washer or think about doing the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is 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 threat in some areas of Escondido than in others. Living in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors affect your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it may be a smart idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The methods used for pressure washing are unique to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or wood) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing technician will use soft washing opposed to power washing to protect the shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the best time to have your home pressure washed is almost as important as choosing how often the service should be performed. There are different times throughout the year when power washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service can benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste your money on power washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with muddy stains and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is the most impactful at the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t have your home pressure washed the same time you are having other projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding may not be tightened into place during a repair like it should normally be, which means you run the risk of damaging the area, disrupting the ongoing work and even trapping water underneath 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 exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a bright, sunny day, but not one that is blazing hot. This is the perfect condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning products onto your home’s exterior.
If you are in an home owner’s association, there may be rules about how often you have your home power washed or whether you can do it by 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 usually up to you to have it looking a certain way.
Pressure washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for a multitude of surfaces and can eliminate years of built up dirt and stains.