How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option when your home starts to look drab and dated. Within just a few hours, your home can be returned to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can call a Minneapolis pressure washing service. It will be expensive upfront, but you don’t have to deal with returning rented equipment or run the risk of damaging your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as fast as it can beautify it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you really have to be careful how often you power wash your home 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 on where your home is and environmental factors around that location.
Most pros will recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service that tries to tell you more frequent services are necessary is probably trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love how it looks right after a cleaning, you can power wash your home several times each year.
By just touching the wood or siding 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 washed off periodically, so you might have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing sometimes can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough can leave your home looking dirtier more than it should. It’s important to note that building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you don’t have to climb a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging ahose. Pressure washing can be done from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that can eat away at home exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your home. They are not very easy to remove, yet it is very easy for them to create colonies on your house, particularly on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
And, power washing removes more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can negatively impact the appearance. They are all factors that must be considered before you call a local pressure washer or try to do the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather 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 side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are more of a threat in some areas than in others. Having a home in a rural area or next to 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 might be a smart idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high water pressure doesn’t do any more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen 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 section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing service will use soft washing instead of power washing to protect the shingles. Also, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the best time to have your home pressure washed is as important as deciding how often the service should be performed. There are times throughout the year when power washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing could benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on professional power washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with mud splatter and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an 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 have your home pressure washed while you are having different projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding might not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it should typically be, so you run the risk of damaging the area, prolonging the other project and even trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a helpful way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the easiest 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 perfect condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s surfaces.
If you live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there might be rules about how often you have your home power washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a local service. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your home looks, but it’s really up to you to have it looking maintained.
Pressure washing is one of the simplest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for most home surfaces and can eliminate years of dirt and stains.