How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option when your house starts looking drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your house can be restored to its beautiful appearance by nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment at most home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Virginia Beach pressure washing service. It will be costly upfront, but you don’t need to deal with returning equipment or the risk of damaging your house because of lack of training or experience.
However, power 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 have to be careful about how often you power wash your house 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 heavily on where your house is located and weather factors around that location.
Most pros like Envirowash in Yorktown encourage having your house pressure washed every year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing company that tells you that more frequent services are needed is just trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can power wash your house many times each year.
By just touching the wood or siding of your house, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t removed periodically, so you may have to deviate from a planned schedule if you notice excess buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it often enough will leave your house looking lackluster more than it should. It’s important to note that building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials help to 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 don’t need to climb up and down a ladder with a brush and a bucket while pulling ahose. Pressure washing can be performed from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that can eat away at home exterior surfaces and make their way into your house. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is extremely easy for these organisms to grow into colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side of a home where it doesn’t get as much sunlight or wind as other sides of your house.
And, power washing removes more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following factors can impact the appearance. They are all factors that have to be considered before you decide to hire a local pressure washer or try to do the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. If you live in a rainy area, you might also have powerful wind and a lot of rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold are sometimes more of a problem in some areas than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or next to 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 may be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water won’t do any more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The processes used for pressure washing are unique 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 instead of power washing to protect the shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the correct time to have your house pressure washed is as important as deciding how often the service needs 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 might help you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste any money on professional power washing during a rainy season. You’ll just end up with mud splatter and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is most useful near the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t plan to have your house pressure washed while you are having different work done on your house. Rock, brick or siding may not be sealed into place during a renovation or repair like it will normally be, so you run the risk of damaging the area, prolonging the other project and even trapping water below building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a helpful way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the easiest answer 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 not one that is blazing hot. This is the optimal condition for the surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning chemicals onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you have an HOA, there may be rules about how often you have your house power washed or whether you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a local company. You might only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your house looks, but it’s really up to you to have it looking a certain way.
Pressure washing is one of the most common and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done the right way, it is safe for a multitude of home surfaces and can eliminate years of dirt and stains.