How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick solution if your home starts looking drab and outdated. Within hours, your home can be restored to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can hire a Wilmington pressure washing service. It could be costly upfront, but you don’t need to deal with returning rented equipment or the risk of damaging your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home just as quickly as it can beautify it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you 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 heavily on where your home is and weather factors based on that location.
Most professionals will recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tells you more frequent services are necessary is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love how it looks after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home many times each year.
By just touching the exterior 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 removed periodically, so you could have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing often can be harmful, but not doing it often enough can leave your home looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s necessary to note that modern building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your home between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the outside of your home because you do not need to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Pressure washing can be done from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and make their way into your home. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is extremely easy for these things to grow into colonies on your house, particularly on the north side where it doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below items can impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that have to be considered before you decide to call a professional pressure washer or try to do the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is in a rainy area, you may also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes bigger problem in some areas of Wilmington than in others. Living in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what type of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it could be a good idea to have chipped siding replaced so the high pressure water won’t do more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The techniques 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 technician will use soft washing instead of pressure washing to protect the shingles. And, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the correct time to have your home pressure washed is almost as important as choosing how often the service has to be performed. There are different times during the year when pressure washing would be a total waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing service could help you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste your money on pressure washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with muddy splatter and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is 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 the same time you are having other projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding could not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it would typically be, so you run the risk of harming the area, prolonging the ongoing work and even trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a great way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the simple 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 perfect condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning products onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you have an HOA, there could be guidelines about how often you have your home pressure washed or if you can do it on your own or if you are required to hire a local company. You may only be under HOA rules regarding how your home appears, but it’s ultimately up to you to have it looking good.
Pressure washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for most home surfaces and can eliminate years of dirt and stains.