How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a fast option after your home starts to look drab and outdated. Within hours, your home can be restored to its beautiful appearance from nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent power washing equipment from most home improvement stores, or you can call a Grand Rapids pressure washing service. It could be a little more costly upfront, but you don’t have to deal with returning equipment or run the risk of harming your home because of 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 have to be careful about how often you power wash your home 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 a lot on where your home is and weather factors based on that location.
Most professionals will encourage having your home pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service that tries to tell you that more frequent services are necessary is just trying to squeeze more money out of you. However, it’s your home, and if you love the way it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can power wash your home multiple times a year.
By just touching the exterior of your home, you will be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain the outside of your home permanently if it isn’t removed from time to time, so you may have to change from a set schedule if you start to see too much buildup between cleanings.
Power washing can be harmful, but not doing it enough can leave your home looking lackluster more than it should. It’s important to note that home building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These materials protect your home between power washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is safer than scrubbing the outside of your home because you don’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while dragging ahose. Power washing can be done from the ground in most residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at exterior surfaces and make their way into your home. They are not very easy to remove, yet it is extremely easy for these organisms to create colonies on your exterior, particularly on the north side of a home where it usually doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
Plus, power washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the below items can negatively impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that must be considered before you decide to hire a professional pressure washer or think about doing the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and extreme weather events 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 onto the side of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be more of a problem in some areas of Grand Rapids than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will determine what types of environmental factors affect your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you think it is time to have your home pressure washed, it may be a good idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high pressure water won’t do more damage. Power washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
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 company will use soft washing opposed to power washing to protect the roof shingles. Also, the expected results can vary widely based on technique.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Choosing the right time to have your home pressure washed is as important as choosing how often the service has to be performed. There are different times throughout the year when power washing would be an ultimate waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing might help you in more ways than appearance.
WEATHER
Do not waste any money on power washing during a rainy time of year. You’ll end up with muddy stains and mildew at the end of the season anyway. Winter, as an example, isn’t the best time of year. Pressure washing is most impactful 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 while you are having other projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding may not be tightened into place during a repair like it would typically be, so you run the risk of harming the area, disrupting the ongoing work and trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a smart way to increase your curb appeal. It’s the simple answer for all your home’s outside surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Pick a bright, sunny day, but don’t choose 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 live in a neighborhood with an home owner’s association, there may be guidelines about how often you have your home power washed or if you can do it yourself or if you are required to hire a professional. You may only be under HOA rules regarding how your home looks, but it’s usually up to you to keep it looking a certain way.
Power washing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done right, it is safe for several surfaces and can eliminate months of dirt and stains.