How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option after your house starts to look drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your house can be renewed to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can call a Irvine pressure washing service. It might be a little more expensive upfront, but you won’t need to deal with returning rented equipment or run the risk of harming your house because of lack of training or experience.
However, power 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 about how often you power wash your house 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 heavily on where your house is located and weather factors based on that location.
Most pros will encourage having your house pressure washed once a year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tries to tell you that more frequent services are needed is probably trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks after a cleaning, you can power wash your house many times each year.
By simply touching the exterior of your house, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain the outside of your house permanently if it isn’t washed off periodically, so you might have to deviate from a planned schedule if you start to see excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing often 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 home building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very 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 safer than scrubbing the outside of your house because you do not need to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling ahose. Power 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 make their way into your house. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is very easy for them to grow into colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
Plus, power washing eliminates more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can negatively impact the appearance. All are factors that have to be considered before you hire a professional pressure washer or think about doing the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in an area that is rainy, you may also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes bigger problem in some areas of Irvine than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what types of environmental factors affect your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your house pressure washed, it might be a good idea to have damaged siding repaired so the high water pressure doesn’t do any more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment 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 service will use soft washing opposed to power washing to protect the roof shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the right time to have your house pressure washed is just as important as determining how often the service should be performed. There are times throughout the year when power washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service could benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on professional power washing in a rainy season. You’ll end up with muddy stains and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is most impactful near 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 different work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding might not be tightened into place during a repair like it should typically be, which means you run the risk of harming the area, disrupting 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 outside 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 perfect condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s surfaces.
If you have an HOA, there might be rules about how regularly you have your house power washed or if you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a local company. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your house appears, but it’s really 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. As long as it’s done right, it is safe for a multitude of surfaces and can get rid of years of dirt and stains.