How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick solution once your house starts looking drab and outdated. Within hours, your house can be renewed to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at most home improvement stores, or you can call a Baltimore pressure washing service. It might be a little more 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, power washing can damage your home just as quickly as it can beautify it. The pressurized water can break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful about 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 heavily on where your house is located and environmental factors around that location.
Most pros will recommend having your house pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service that tells you more frequent services are needed is just trying to squeeze a little 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 house multiple times a year.
By simply touching the wood or siding of your house, you will be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain the outside of your house permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you may 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 house looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s necessary to note that modern building materials, especially vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your house between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you won’t have to climb a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging a garden hose. Power washing can be performed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and find their way into your house. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for these things to form colonies on your home, especially on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
Plus, power washing removes more dirt and grime than hand washing.
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 hire a nearby pressure washer or attempt the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in an area that is rainy, you might also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud on the side of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are more of a problem in some areas of Baltimore than in others. Having a home in a rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what type of environmental factors impact your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your house pressure washed, it may be a good idea to have damaged siding repaired so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment used for pressure washing are unique to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or paint) and the section of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing technician will use soft washing opposed to power washing to protect the shingles. And, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the best time to have your house pressure washed is just as important as deciding how often the service needs to be completed. There are certain times during the year when power washing would be a real waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service might help you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste any money on power washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with mud splatter and mildew at the end of the season anyway. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. 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 the same time you are having other projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding may not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it would typically be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, prolonging the ongoing work and even trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a smart 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 best condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s exterior.
If you live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there may be requirements about how often you have your house power washed or if you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a local service. You might only be under HOA rules concerning how your house looks, but it’s usually up to you to have it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for most home surfaces and can remove years of dirt and stains.