How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option when your house starts to look drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your house can be returned to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at most home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a San Leandro pressure washing service. It could 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, power washing can damage your home as fast as it can renew it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you really have to be careful 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 a lot on where your house is located and weather factors based on that location.
Most professionals will recommend having your house pressure washed once a year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tries to tell you that more frequent services are necessary is probably trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks after a cleaning, you can power wash your house multiple times a year.
By touching the exterior of your house, you will be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain the outside of your house permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you might have to change from a planned schedule if you notice too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing often can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough will leave your house looking dirtier more than it should. It’s important to note that modern building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very 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 brush and a bucket while pulling ahose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your house. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is really easy for these organisms to form colonies on your house, especially on the north side where it usually doesn’t get as much direct sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
Plus, power washing eliminates more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below items can negatively impact the appearance. They are all factors that must be considered before you hire a professional pressure washer or try to do the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is in an area that is rainy, you might also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud on the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be more of a problem in some areas of San Leandro than in others. Living in a more rural area or next to an unpaved road will factor into what type of environmental factors affect your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your house pressure washed, it might be a good idea to have damaged siding repaired so the high pressure water won’t do any more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The techniques used for pressure washing are specific to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or paint) and the section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing company 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
Determining the optimal time to have your house pressure washed is just as important as choosing how often the service needs to be completed. There are different times throughout the year when power washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service could help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste your money on professional 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 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 the same time you are having different projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding might not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it would typically be, which means you run the risk of ruining the area, disrupting the ongoing work and trapping water below building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a cost-effective way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the simple answer 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 surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s exterior.
If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, there might be requirements about how regularly you have your house power washed or if you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a local company. You might only be under HOA guidelines concerning how your house looks, but it’s really up to you to have it looking good.
Power washing is one of the simplest and most effective methods to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done right, it is safe for a multitude of surfaces and can remove years of built up dirt and stains.