How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option after your house starts looking drab and outdated. Within just a few hours, your house can be renewed to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Santa Ana pressure washing service. It might be a little more expensive upfront, but you won’t have to deal with returning rented equipment or the risk of harming your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as quickly as it can clean it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful 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 a lot on where your house is and weather factors around that location.
Most professionals recommend having your house pressure washed once a year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tries to tell you that more frequent cleanings are necessary is just 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 pressure wash your house many 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 dust, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you may have to change from a planned schedule if you notice excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be detrimental, but not doing it enough will leave your house looking dirtier more than it should. It’s necessary to note that building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is a lot safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you won’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Power washing can be performed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that can eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your house. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is really easy for them to create colonies on your home, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
And, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can impact the appearance. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to hire a local pressure washer or try to do the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If your home is in an area that is rainy, you may also have powerful wind and rain splashing mud on the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are more of a problem in some areas of Santa Ana than in others. Living in a rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors affect your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your house pressure washed, it may be a smart idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
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 company will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the shingles. And, the results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the best time to have your house pressure washed is almost as important as determining how often the service should be performed. There are certain times throughout the year when pressure washing would be an ultimate 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 professional pressure washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with mud splatter and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is most useful 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 different work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding may not be sealed into place during a repair like it will normally be, which means you run the risk of harming the area, disrupting the ongoing work and even trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a smart way to increase your 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
Choose a sunny day, but not one that is blazing hot. This is the best condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s surfaces.
If you are in an home owner’s association, there may be guidelines about how often you have your house pressure washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a local service. You may only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your house looks, but it’s really up to you to have it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for most surfaces and can get rid of months of dirt and stains.