How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast solution when your home starts to look drab and dated. Within just a couple of hours, your home can be renewed to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at most home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Plymouth pressure washing service. It will be a little more costly upfront, but you don’t need to deal with bringing back equipment or run the risk of harming your home because of 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 ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful 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 a lot on where your home is and weather factors based on that location.
Most pros will recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing pro that tries to tell you more frequent services are necessary is just trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home several times each year.
By simply touching the exterior of your home, you will be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain the outside of your home permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you could have to deviate from a set schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing can be harmful, but not doing it enough can leave your home looking dirtier far more than it should. It’s important to note that building materials, especially vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials 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 up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Pressure washing can be completed from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that can eat away at home exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your home. They are not easy to remove, yet it is very easy for these things to form colonies on your house, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
And, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can negatively impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that have to be considered before you decide to call a nearby pressure washer or think about doing 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 a rainy area, you may also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes bigger threat in some areas of Plymouth than in others. Living in a rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what type of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it could be a good idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high water pressure doesn’t do any more damage. Pressure 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 company will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. Also, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the best time to have your home pressure washed is almost as important as choosing how often the service should be completed. There are certain 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 appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste any money on professional pressure washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with muddy splatter and mildew at the end of the season anyway. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is the most beneficial near the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t plan to have your home pressure washed while you are having different work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding could not be tightened into place during a repair like it should normally be, which means 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 cost-effective 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 sunny day, but not one that is extremely hot. This is the best condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s exterior.
If you are in an HOA, there could be requirements about how often you have your home pressure washed or whether you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a local service. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your home appears, but it’s really up to you to keep it looking a certain way.
Pressure washing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for several home surfaces and can remove months of dirt and stains.