How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option once your home starts to look drab and dated. Within just a few hours, your home can be renewed to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from most home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Chandler pressure washing service. It will be a little more expensive upfront, but you won’t need to deal with returning rented equipment or run the risk of harming your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as quickly as it can clean it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful about how often you pressure 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 located and environmental factors based on that location.
Most professionals encourage having your home pressure washed each year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service that tells you more frequent services 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 right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home multiple times each year.
By just touching the wood or siding 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 periodically, so you might have to change from a set schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it often enough will leave your home looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s necessary to note that modern building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are 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 exterior of your home because you won’t need to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging ahose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and make their way into your home. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is really easy for them to form colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing eliminates more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to hire a nearby pressure washer or try to do the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in a rainy area, you may also have wind and rain splashing mud on the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes bigger problem in some areas of Chandler than in others. Having a home 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 might be a good idea to have chipped siding replaced so the high-pressure water doesn’t do more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The processes used for pressure washing are specific to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or paint) and the section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing company will use soft washing instead of pressure washing to protect the shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the right time to have your home pressure washed is as important as determining how often the service has to be completed. There are different times during the year when pressure washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service might benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste money on pressure washing during a rainy season. You’ll end up with muddy 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 plan to have your home pressure washed while you are having different work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding might not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it should normally 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 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
Pick a bright, sunny day, but don’t choose one that is blazing hot. This is the best condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you have an home owner’s association, there might be rules about how often you have your home pressure washed or whether you can do it by yourself or if you are required to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules regarding how your home looks, but it’s really up to you to keep it looking maintained.
Power washing is one of the most common and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for a multitude of home surfaces and can get rid of months of dirt and stains.