How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option after your home starts looking drab and outdated. Within hours, your home can be restored to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from many home improvement stores, or you can call a Carlsbad pressure washing service. It will be a little more costly upfront, but you won’t have to deal with returning equipment or the risk of damaging your home due to 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 ruin shingles. Therefore, you really have to be careful 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 on where your home is and environmental factors around that location.
Most pros recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing technician that tells you that more frequent cleanings are necessary is just trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks right after a cleaning, you can power wash your home many times a year.
By touching the wood or siding of your home, you will be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain your home permanently if it isn’t washed off periodically, so you may have to change from a set schedule if you start to see excess buildup between cleanings.
Power washing sometimes 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 modern building materials, especially vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials help to protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you don’t have to climb a ladder with a brush and a bucket while dragging ahose. Power washing can be done from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that can eat away at exterior surfaces and find their way into your home. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is very easy for these things to form colonies on your house, particularly on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
Plus, power 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 have to be considered before you decide to call a professional pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in a rainy area, you might also have wind and rain splashing mud on the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a threat in some areas of Carlsbad than in others. Living in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what types of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it may be a smart idea to have damaged siding replaced so the high pressure water doesn’t do any more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment used for pressure washing are specific to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or paint) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing technician will use soft washing instead of power washing to protect the shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the best time to have your home pressure washed is almost as important as choosing how often the service has to be performed. There are different times throughout the year when power washing would be a real waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing 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 mud stains and mildew by the end of the season anyway. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is most beneficial near the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t have your home pressure washed while you are having other work done on your home. Rock, brick or siding may not be fastened into place during a repair like it should normally be, so you run the risk of harming the area, prolonging the other project and trapping water underneath building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a helpful way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the easiest solution for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Pick a bright, sunny day, but not one that is very hot. This is the optimal condition for the exterior surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning products onto your home’s exterior.
If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, there may be rules about how often you have your home power washed or whether you can do it by yourself or if you are required to hire a professional. You might only be under HOA rules concerning how your home appears, but it’s usually up to you to have it looking maintained.
Power washing is one of the fastest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for several surfaces and can eliminate years of built up dirt and stains.