How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast fix after your home starts to look drab and dated. 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 pressure washing equipment from home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a San Antonio pressure washing service. It will be a little more expensive upfront, but you won’t need to deal with returning rented equipment or the risk of damaging your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home just as quickly as it can renew it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about how often you pressure wash your home 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 a lot on where your home is located and weather factors around that location.
Most professionals will recommend having your home pressure washed once a year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tries to tell you 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 pressure wash your home several times a year.
By touching the wood or siding of your home, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain your home permanently if it isn’t washed off periodically, so you might have to change from a set schedule if you notice excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough will leave your home looking lackluster more than it should. It’s important to note that home building materials, especially vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to protect your home between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is a lot safer than scrubbing the outside of your home because you don’t need to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Power washing can be accomplished from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that can 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 grow into colonies on your exterior, particularly on the north side where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
And, 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. All are factors that need to be considered before you decide to call a local pressure washer or attempt the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is in an area that is rainy, you may also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a threat in some areas of San Antonio than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine 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 smart idea to have damaged siding repaired so the high pressure water won’t do any more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The techniques 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 technician will use soft washing instead of pressure washing to protect the shingles. Also, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the correct time to have your home pressure washed is as important as determining how often the service has to be performed. There are different times during the year when pressure washing would be a total waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing might help you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on professional pressure washing during a rainy season. You’ll just end up with mud stains and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is the most beneficial 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 the same time you are having other work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding might not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it would normally be, which means you run the risk of damaging the area, prolonging the ongoing work and even trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a helpful way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the simple solution 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 blazing hot. This is the perfect condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s surfaces.
If you have an home owner’s association, there might be rules about how regularly you have your home pressure washed or whether you can do it on your own or if you are required to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your home looks, but it’s usually up to you to have it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the fastest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done right, it is safe for a multitude of home surfaces and can remove months of built up dirt and stains.