How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast solution when your house starts to look drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your house can be returned to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at many home improvement stores, or you can call a Thornton pressure washing service. It might be costly upfront, but you don’t have to deal with bringing back equipment or the risk of harming your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home as fast as it can clean it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin shingles. Therefore, you really have to be careful how often you pressure 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 heavily on where your house is and environmental factors around that location.
Most professionals will recommend having your house pressure washed each year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tells you that more frequent cleanings are necessary is probably trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your house multiple times a year.
By 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 set schedule if you start to see a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing often can be harmful, but not doing it enough can leave your house looking lackluster more than it should. It’s important to note that home building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to protect your house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you won’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling ahose. Pressure washing can be accomplished from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and make their way into your house. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is really easy for these things 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 house.
And, pressure washing eliminates more dirt and grime than hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can impact the appearance. All are factors that have to be considered before you decide to call a local pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If you live in a rainy area, you may also have powerful wind and rain splashing mud onto the side of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are bigger threat in some areas of Thornton than in others. Living in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors affect your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your house pressure washed, it could be a good idea to have damaged siding repaired so the high pressure water won’t do any more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment 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 pressure washing to protect the shingles. And, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the right time to have your house pressure washed is as important as deciding how often the service has to be performed. There are certain times during the year when pressure washing would be a real waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service can help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste money on professional pressure washing in 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 beneficial 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 while you are having other projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding could not be tightened into place during a repair like it would normally be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, prolonging the ongoing work and trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a helpful way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the simple solution 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 not one that is blazing hot. This is the best condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning products onto your home’s exterior.
If you are in an HOA, there could be guidelines about how often you have your house pressure washed or if you can do it on your own or if you have to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your house appears, but it’s really up to you to keep 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 several surfaces and can eliminate years of dirt and stains.