How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick solution once your house starts looking drab and dated. Within hours, your house can be restored to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment from many home improvement stores, or you can call a Louisville pressure washing service. It might be costly upfront, but you don’t have to deal with returning equipment or the risk of damaging your house due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure 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 ruin roof shingles. Therefore, you need to be careful how often you pressure 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 and weather factors around that location.
Most professionals will recommend having your house pressure washed once a year or, no longer than every 2 years.
Any pressure washing pro that tells you that more frequent cleanings are needed is probably trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love how it looks right after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your house multiple times a year.
By touching the wood or siding of your house, you should be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dirt, mud and grime can stain your house permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you could have to change from a set schedule if you start to see a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be detrimental, but not doing it often enough will leave your house 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 house between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your house because you don’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling ahose. Power washing can be done from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that can 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 these things to grow into colonies on your house, especially on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get as much direct sunlight or wind as the other sides of your house.
Plus, pressure 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. They are all factors that need to be considered before you hire a local pressure washer or attempt the job on your own.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather can create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. 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 exterior of your house.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be bigger threat in some areas than in others. Living in a more rural area or next to an unpaved road will determine what type of environmental factors affect 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 damaged siding replaced so the high water pressure doesn’t do any more damage. Power washing can also expedite a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The techniques used for pressure washing are unique 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 pressure washing to protect the roof shingles. Additionally, the expected results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the right time to have your house pressure washed is as important as choosing how often the service needs to be performed. There are times throughout the year when pressure washing would be a real waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing service could help you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste money on pressure washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with muddy splatter and mildew by the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is the most impactful at 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 the same time you are having other projects done on your house. Rock, brick or siding could not be tightened into place during a renovation or repair like it will normally be, which means you run the risk of harming the area, prolonging 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 easiest solution for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Pick a sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the perfect condition for the exterior surfaces to dry quickly without baking cleaning products onto your home’s exterior.
If you live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there could be rules about how regularly you have your house pressure washed or whether you can do it on your own or if you are required to hire a local service. You may only be under HOA rules concerning how your house appears, but it’s usually up to you to have 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 right, it is safe for a multitude of home surfaces and can eliminate months of built up dirt and stains.