How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast solution when your house starts to look drab and dated. Within hours, your house can be restored to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at home improvement stores, or you can hire a Laguna Niguel pressure washing service. It can be costly upfront, but you won’t have to deal with bringing back equipment or the risk of harming your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, power washing can damage your home as fast as it can clean it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you really have 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 on where your house is located and weather factors around that location.
Most pros recommend having your house pressure washed each year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tells you more frequent cleanings are necessary is probably trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love the way it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can power wash your house several times a year.
By simply touching the wood or siding of your house, you will be able to tell if it’s time for a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you could have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see excess buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing can be detrimental, but not doing it enough can leave your house 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 protect your house between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is a lot safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house 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 performed from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and eventually make their way into your house. They are not easy to remove, yet it is really easy for them to create colonies on your home, especially on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your house.
Plus, power washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can negatively impact the appearance. They are all factors that need to be considered before you hire a professional pressure washer or attempt the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events 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 on the side of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are bigger threat in some areas of Laguna Niguel than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors impact your house more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your house pressure washed, it could be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high water pressure doesn’t do more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The processes 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 company will use soft washing opposed to power washing to protect the roof shingles. And, the results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the right time to have your house 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 service could benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste money on professional power washing during a rainy season. You’ll end up with muddy stains and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is the most useful at 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 projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding could not be fastened into place during a renovation or repair like it should typically be, so you run the risk of ruining the area, prolonging the other project and even trapping water below 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
Choose a sunny day, but don’t choose one that is extremely hot. This is the best 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 home owner’s association, there could be requirements about how regularly you have your house power washed or whether you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a local company. You may only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your house appears, but it’s ultimately up to you to have it looking good.
Pressure washing is one of the quickest and most effective methods to clean your entire home. As long as it’s done right, it is safe for most home surfaces and can get rid of months of built up dirt and stains.