How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast fix once your home starts looking drab and outdated. Within just a couple of hours, your home can be restored to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from many home improvement stores, or you can call a Saint Cloud pressure washing service. It could 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 as fast as it can renew it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy roof shingles. Therefore, you really need to be careful about how often you pressure 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 located and environmental factors based on that location.
Most pros recommend having your home pressure washed once a year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing pro that tries to tell you more frequent cleanings are necessary 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 simply touching the wood or siding of your home, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain the outside of your home permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you might have to change from a planned schedule if you notice a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be harmful, but not doing it often enough can leave your home looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s important to note that building materials, especially vinyl siding, are resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your home between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you won’t need to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging ahose. Power washing can be completed 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 home. They are not easy to get rid of, yet it is extremely easy for these things to form colonies on your house, especially on the north side where it usually doesn’t get much sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
And, pressure washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can impact the appearance of a home. All are factors that have to be considered before you hire a professional pressure washer or attempt the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If your home is in an area that is rainy, you may also have wind and rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be bigger threat in some areas of Saint Cloud than in others. Living in a rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what types 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 water pressure won’t do any more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint problem.
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 technician will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the optimal time to have your home pressure washed is almost as important as choosing how often the service should be performed. There are different times during the year when pressure washing would be a total waste of time and money. Other times, however, a professional pressure washing service can benefit you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste your money on professional pressure washing in a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with muddy splatter and mildew at the end of the season anyway. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is 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 repair like it should typically be, which means you run the risk of harming the area, disrupting the ongoing work and trapping water below building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a cost-effective way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the simple solution for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a bright, sunny day, but not one that is extremely hot. This is the perfect condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning solutions onto your home’s siding or brick.
If you are in an HOA, there might be requirements about how regularly you have your home pressure washed or whether you can do it by yourself or if you have to hire a local service. You may only be under HOA guidelines regarding how your home appears, but it’s really up to you to keep it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the quickest 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 remove months of dirt and stains.