How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option once your home starts to look drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your home can be returned to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from many home improvement stores, or you can hire a Murfreesboro pressure washing service. It can be a little more costly upfront, but you don’t have to deal with bringing back rented equipment or run the risk of damaging your home because of lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as fast as it can beautify it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful about how often you power 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 a lot on where your home is located and weather factors around that location.
Most professionals will recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service 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 the way it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can power wash your home many 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 planned schedule if you start to see a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing often can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough will leave your home looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s important to note that home building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is a lot safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you do not have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging ahose. Pressure washing can be done from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and eventually find their way into your home. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is really easy for these organisms to form colonies on your home, particularly on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
Plus, power washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below factors can negatively impact the appearance of a home. All are factors that have to be considered before you call a professional pressure washer or try to do the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is in a rainy area, you might also have wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are bigger problem in some areas than in others. Having a home in a rural area or next to an unpaved road will factor into what type of environmental factors affect your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time 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 any more damage. Pressure washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment used for pressure washing are unique to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or wood) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing company 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 correct time to have your home pressure washed is just as important as deciding how often the service needs to be performed. There are certain times during the year when power washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing service can benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste any money on professional power washing in a rainy season. You’ll end up with mud stains and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is most useful 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 might not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it would typically be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, disrupting the other project and even trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a smart way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the simple answer for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a bright, sunny day, but not one that is extremely hot. This is the optimal condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s surfaces.
If you are in an home owner’s association, there might be requirements about how often you have your home power washed or if you can do it on your own or if you are required to hire a local service. You might only be under HOA rules concerning how your home appears, but it’s usually up to you to keep it looking maintained.
Pressure washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for a multitude of surfaces and can get rid of months of dirt and stains.