How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option when your home starts to look drab and dated. Within hours, your home can be restored to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from most home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Sandy Springs pressure washing service. It will be costly upfront, but you won’t need to deal with returning equipment or run the risk of harming your home because of 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 roof shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful how often you pressure 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 encourage having your home pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing pro that tells you that more frequent services are necessary is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love the way it looks right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home multiple times a year.
By touching the exterior of your home, you should be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain your home permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you could have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be harmful, but not doing it enough can leave your home looking dirtier far more than it should. It’s necessary to note that building materials, especially vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your home between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you won’t need to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling ahose. Power washing can be completed from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that can eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your home. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is very easy for these things to grow into colonies on your home, particularly on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing eliminates more dirt and grime than manual hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can impact the appearance. They are all factors that need to be considered before you decide to hire a nearby pressure washer or try to do the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in a rainy area, you may also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud on the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a problem in some areas than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors affect your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it could be a smart idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high pressure water doesn’t do more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint issue.
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 company will use soft washing instead of pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the correct time to have your home pressure washed is just as important as choosing how often the service should be performed. There are certain times during the year when pressure washing would be a real waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing might benefit you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste any money on pressure washing during a rainy season. You’ll just end up with mud splatter and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is the most beneficial near the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t have your home pressure washed while you are having other projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding could not be tightened into place during a repair like it would typically be, which means you run the risk of damaging the area, disrupting the ongoing work and even trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a helpful way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the easiest solution 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 extremely hot. This is the optimal condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning products onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you have an HOA, there could be guidelines about how regularly you have your home pressure washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your home looks, but it’s ultimately up to you to have it looking good.
Power washing is one of the quickest and most effective methods to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for a multitude of surfaces and can remove months of dirt and stains.