How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick fix after your home starts looking drab and outdated. Within just a few hours, your home can be renewed to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can hire a Gresham pressure washing service. It could be expensive upfront, but you don’t need to deal with bringing back equipment or the risk of harming your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home just as fast as it can beautify it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy roof shingles. Therefore, you have 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 on where your home is and weather factors around that location.
Most pros encourage having your home pressure washed once a year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service that tries to tell you that more frequent cleanings are needed is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love how it looks right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home many times each year.
By just touching the exterior of your home, you will be able to tell if it’s time for 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 deviate from a set schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it enough can leave your home looking dirtier more than it should. It’s necessary to note that modern building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These 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 won’t need to climb a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling ahose. Power washing can be performed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organic organisms that can eat away at exterior surfaces and make their way into your home. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is very easy for these things to form colonies on your home, particularly on the north side where it usually doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as the other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing removes more dirt and grime than hand washing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below items can negatively impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that have to be considered before you call a professional pressure washer or think about doing the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If you live in an area that is rainy, you might also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are more of a problem in some areas of Gresham than in others. Having a home in a rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what type of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it might be a smart idea to have chipped siding replaced so the high pressure water doesn’t do more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment used for pressure washing are specific to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or wood) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing service will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. And, the results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the correct time to have your home pressure washed is as important as determining how often the service should be performed. There are certain times throughout the year when pressure washing would be a real waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing can benefit you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on pressure washing in a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with muddy stains and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, for 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 have your home pressure washed the same time you are having other work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding might not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it would typically be, so you run the risk of harming the area, prolonging the ongoing work and trapping water below building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a smart way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the easiest solution for all your home’s outside surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a sunny day, but don’t choose 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 siding or brick.
If you have an HOA, there might be requirements about how often you have your home pressure washed or whether you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a local company. You might only be under HOA rules regarding how your home looks, but it’s ultimately up to you to have it looking good.
Power washing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for several surfaces and can eliminate months of built up dirt and stains.