How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick fix if your house starts looking drab and dated. Within just a couple of hours, your house can be restored to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from most home improvement stores, or you can call a Miami pressure washing service. It might be a little more expensive upfront, but you don’t need to deal with returning equipment or the risk of harming your house because of lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as fast as it can renew it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful about how often you pressure 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 located and weather factors based on that location.
Most pros recommend having your house pressure washed once a year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service 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 how it looks right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your house many times a year.
By touching the exterior of your house, you should be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you could have to deviate from a planned schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it often enough can leave your house looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s necessary to note that building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials 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 do not need to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Pressure washing can be done from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and find their way into your house. They are not easy to remove, yet it is very easy for these organisms to form colonies on your house, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
Plus, pressure washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can negatively impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that have to be considered before you call a nearby pressure washer or try to do 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 a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a threat in some areas than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or next to an unpaved road will factor into what types of environmental factors impact your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your house pressure washed, it could be a good idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high water pressure doesn’t do 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 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. And, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the best time to have your house pressure washed is as important as determining how often the service has to be completed. There are certain times during the year when pressure washing would be a total waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing service could help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste your money on pressure washing during a rainy season. You’ll end up with muddy stains and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is most impactful at 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 projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding could not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it will typically be, so you run the risk of harming the area, prolonging the other project and even trapping water below building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a helpful way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the simple solution for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Pick a sunny day, but not one that is blazing hot. This is the best condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s exterior.
If you are in an HOA, there could be requirements about how regularly you have your house pressure washed or if you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a local company. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your house 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 several home surfaces and can eliminate years of built up dirt and stains.