How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick fix after your home starts looking drab and outdated. Within hours, your home can be renewed to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can call a Nashville pressure washing service. It could be costly upfront, but you won’t need to deal with bringing back equipment or the risk of damaging your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as quickly as it can clean it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about how often you pressure 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 on where your home is and environmental factors around that location.
Most pros will recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing pro that tells you more frequent services are needed is probably trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home multiple times a year.
By just touching the exterior of your home, you will 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 removed from time to time, so you could have to change from a set schedule if you notice excess buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing can be detrimental, but not doing it enough will leave your home looking dirtier more than it should. It’s important to note that modern building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials 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 dragging a garden hose. Pressure washing can be accomplished 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 very easy to remove, yet it is very easy for these things to form colonies on your house, especially on the north side where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can negatively impact the appearance. They are all factors that need to be considered before you decide to call a local pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If you live in a rainy area, you may also have powerful wind and rain splashing mud on the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be more of a threat in some areas than in others. Having a home in a rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what types of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it could be a smart idea to have chipped siding replaced so the high pressure water 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 paint) 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. Also, 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 deciding how often the service should 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 could help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste any money on pressure washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with muddy splatter and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is the most impactful near the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t plan to have your home pressure washed the same time you are having different work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding could not be fastened into place during a repair like it will normally be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, disrupting the ongoing work and trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a cost-effective way to increase your home’s 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
Pick a bright, sunny day, but don’t choose one that is extremely hot. This is the optimal condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s surfaces.
If you live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there could be requirements about how often you have your home pressure washed or whether you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your home looks, but it’s usually up to you to have it looking a certain way.
Pressure washing is one of the simplest and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for most surfaces and can eliminate months of dirt and stains.