How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option when your house starts looking drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your house can be renewed to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at many home improvement stores, or you can call a Rockville pressure washing service. It might be expensive upfront, but you won’t need to deal with bringing back rented equipment or the risk of harming your house because of lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as fast as it can beautify it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you really have to be careful about how often you power 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 heavily on where your house is located and environmental factors based on that location.
Most pros encourage having your house pressure washed once a year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tells you more frequent cleanings 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 house several times a year.
By simply touching the exterior of your house, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you might have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it enough will leave your house looking lackluster more than it should. It’s important to note that building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your house between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the outside of your house because you won’t need to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging ahose. Pressure washing can be performed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that can eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your house. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for these organisms to create colonies on your exterior, particularly on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your house.
Plus, power washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can impact the appearance. All are factors that have to be considered before you call a professional pressure washer or attempt the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in an area that is rainy, you may also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes bigger threat in some areas of Rockville 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 affect your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your house pressure washed, it might be a smart idea to have damaged siding repaired so the high pressure water won’t do more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment 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 service 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
Choosing the best time to have your house pressure washed is as important as choosing how often the service needs to be completed. There are different times during the year when power washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing service could benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste money on power washing in a rainy season. You’ll end up with mud stains and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an 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 plan to have your house pressure washed while you are having other work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding might not be tightened into place during a renovation or 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 smart way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the easiest solution for all your home’s outside surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Pick a bright, sunny day, but not one that is blazing hot. This is the optimal condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, there might be guidelines about how often you have your house power washed or if you can do it on your own or if you have to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your house appears, but it’s usually up to you to keep it looking a certain way.
Pressure washing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done right, it is safe for several surfaces and can eliminate years of built up dirt and stains.