How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick fix when your house starts to look drab and dated. Within just a few hours, your house can be restored to its beautiful appearance from 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 Chino pressure washing service. It will be a little more expensive upfront, but you don’t have to deal with bringing back rented equipment or run the risk of harming your house because of lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as quickly as it can renew it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful how often you power wash your house 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 a lot on where your house is and environmental factors around that location.
Most professionals recommend having your house pressure washed each year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tries to tell you more frequent services are necessary 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 right after a cleaning, you can power wash your house many times a year.
By just 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 periodically, so you could have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing often can be harmful, but not doing it often enough will leave your house looking dirtier more than it should. It’s necessary to note that building materials, especially vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to protect your house between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the outside of your house because you don’t have to climb a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging ahose. Power washing can be completed from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your house. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for them to create colonies on your house, especially on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your house.
Plus, power washing eliminates more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below items can impact the appearance. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to call a nearby pressure washer or attempt the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If your home is in an area that is rainy, you may also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud on the side of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a threat in some areas of Chino than in others. Living in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what types of environmental factors impact your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your house pressure washed, it could be a good idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high pressure water doesn’t do more damage. Power washing can also worsen 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 area 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
Determining the optimal time to have your house pressure washed is as important as deciding how often the service has to be performed. There are times throughout the year when power washing would be a total waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing could help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste money on power washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with mud stains and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is the most impactful at the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t have your house pressure washed the same time you are having other work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding could not be tightened 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 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
Pick a bright, sunny day, but not one that is blazing hot. This is the optimal condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning products onto your home’s surfaces.
If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, there could be rules about how regularly you have your house power washed or whether you can do it on your own or if you have to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA guidelines concerning how your house looks, but it’s ultimately up to you to keep it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the fastest and most effective methods to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for most home surfaces and can eliminate months of built up dirt and stains.