How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option after your home starts to look drab and outdated.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 many home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Berkeley pressure washing service. It might be a little more costly upfront, but you don’t need to deal with bringing back equipment or the risk of harming your home because of lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home just as quickly as it can beautify it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you have to be careful 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 heavily on where your home is located and weather factors around that location.
Most pros recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service that tries to tell you that more frequent cleanings 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 home many times each year.
By just touching the wood or siding of your home, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain the outside of your home permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you may have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes can be detrimental, but not doing it enough will leave your home looking dirtier more than it should. It’s necessary to note that home building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you won’t need to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Power washing can be performed from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that can eat away at home exterior surfaces and make their way into your home. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for these things to form colonies on your house, especially on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get as much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
And, power washing removes more dirt and grime than manual 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 need to be considered before you hire a professional pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in a rainy area, you may also have wind and rain splashing mud on the exterior 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 factor into what types of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it may be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water won’t do more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The techniques used for pressure washing are unique to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or paint) and the section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing technician will use soft washing opposed to power washing to protect the shingles. And, 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 deciding how often the service should be performed. There are certain times during the year when power washing would be a total 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 money on professional power washing in a rainy season. You’ll just end up with mud splatter and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. 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 may not be tightened into place during a repair like it should normally be, which means you run the risk of damaging the area, prolonging the ongoing work and even trapping water underneath 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 bright, sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the best condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you have an home owner’s association, there may be requirements about how often you have your home power washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA guidelines concerning how your home looks, but it’s usually up to you to keep it looking maintained.
Power washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done right, it is safe for a multitude of home surfaces and can remove years of dirt and stains.