How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick solution once 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 home improvement stores, or you can call a Huntsville pressure washing service. It will be a little more expensive upfront, but you don’t need to deal with returning rented equipment or the risk of damaging your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as quickly as it can beautify it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you really 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 heavily on where your house is located and environmental factors based on that location.
Most pros will recommend having your house pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tells 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 the way it looks shortly 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 dust, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you may have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing often can be detrimental, but not doing it enough can 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 materials protect your house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the outside of your house because you don’t need to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and make their way into your house. They are not easy to remove, yet it is extremely easy for these organisms to grow into colonies on your home, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your house.
Plus, pressure washing eliminates more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can negatively impact the appearance. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to hire a professional pressure washer or try to do the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If you live in a rainy area, you might also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a problem in some areas than in others. Living in a rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors impact your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your house pressure washed, it may be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water doesn’t do any more damage. Power 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 shingles. Also, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the right time to have your house pressure washed is almost as important as determining how often the service should be completed. There are different times throughout the year when pressure washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing can help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste money on pressure washing in a rainy season. You’ll end up with muddy stains and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is the most beneficial 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 may not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it will typically be, which means you run the risk of ruining the area, prolonging the other project and even trapping water below building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a great way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the easiest answer for all your home’s outside surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a sunny day, but not one that is very hot. This is the optimal condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you are in an HOA, there may be guidelines about how regularly you have your house pressure washed or if you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a local service. You might only be under HOA rules concerning how your house looks, but it’s ultimately up to you to keep it looking maintained.
Power washing is one of the simplest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for several home surfaces and can remove months of dirt and stains.