Pressure Washing Guide

Midwestpro · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:03 am Post subject: House Cleaning Maintenance

How often you should have your home power washed depends on the region you live in.

Natural contaminants such as mildew, algae and mold can appear on vinyl, wood, and aluminum siding as well as stucco and brick. This can be more of a predicament for a house that is shaded by trees; the lack of sun permits moisture to be present helping the pollutants to grow. A professional cleaning company can use the proper cleaners to kill and remove these natural pollutants to restore your home's appearance before they cause damaging effects.

As a regular maintenance cleaning you should have your home cleaned every year or two.

A-PLUS · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 1:13 pm Post subject:

Barry, you are 100% correct on the region you live in statement.

Being from the Midwest, every year or two is great. Since moving to the Southeast, every six months to a year is recommended due all of the
heat and humidity we have down here.

No matter where you live, You should have a maintenance washing to protect your largest investment. Your home.

TNTPW · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:53 pm Post subject:

I recommend to all my customers that they get it done at least once a year. It is funny to me how some people will let their homes get in such horrible shape. To me its like the old "pay me now or pay later" saying. People's homes need maintenence just like vehicles. To any home owner reading this...would you get the most life out of your car and never change your oil? Just food for thought. Take care of your things and they will take care of you.

Midwestpro · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:56 am Post subject:

Great points guys. I think for the most part, people do care about their homes and stay on top of maintenance, especially those people that are here looking for information. On the other hand there are folks out there that, for whatever reason, do neglect their home's exterior. We have cleaned many homes that haven't been touched for years, these are nice expensive homes to.

We have learned through experience, that there is a certain point that neglect becomes costly. Dirt stains can become permanent after years of neglect, this shows in the form of a light shadow on the bottom lap of each piece of vinyl siding. We have thrown everything at these stains and they don't come off and in every case the home owner admits it's been years since the house was washed last or has never been washed.

Green mold and algae can also do permanent damage. We have cleaned algae off vinyl siding only to find that when we stepped back and looked at the clean house, it was blotchy. What happened was that the algae was there for so long, that all the rest of the siding exposed to the sun had faded. So when we cleaned the algae off it exposed a slightly different color siding and left a blotchy look.

Up here we have a huge problem with mildew, I'm sure down south you guys see it even worse. People are always surprised when I point out to them that those little light green and black spots are mildew. It's very common to first appear on the bottom side of the gutters and a few feet down from the overhang on the siding (where it's shaded). People are shocked to see mildew that close to the vented soffit and are concerned that it could easily travel inside to the attic, and they should be.

All of these scenarios are avoidable if you just have your home washed every year or two, again depending on where you live. That's what "maintenance" is, keeping it clean and not letting it go until it's so bad you HAVE to do something.

tongyun · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 52

Thanks for the tips everyone. This just confirms my thought that I need to wash my house this year. It's been a couple of years since the last time I did it and it was just before I painted the house. I live in the west and it gets hot and dry around here but nonetheless, a house needs to be clean.

Rusty · Joined: 30 Mar 2009 Posts: 3

We are in Modwest, and our house is new, we have not yet washed it. Since it is recommended to wash a house every year or at least every two years, do you think we should do it now, even though the house looks nice and clean, without any mold or other stuff anywhere?

Midwestpro · Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:41 pm Post subject:

Every area and every situation is different, but in most cases you should get your home washed every year or two. Sometimes I will look at a house that the customer feels isn't that dirty until I start pointing out mildew, mold, oxidation, bug stains, and such.

Most every house I have ever washed had little mildew spots on the bottom side of the gutters. Most of the time the homeowner had no clue it was there or that it was mildew.

I'm not saying that your house isn't perfectly clean Rusty, but I would be willing to bet a professional could point out some areas that need cleaned. Plus a good washing every couple of years will help with sun oxidation problems on the vinyl siding. The whole idea is "preventive" maintenance.

tongyun · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 52

We've had so much rain in June that I haven't taken the time to have the house washed. It was one of the wettest Junes in years and made any attempt to wash the house pointless. Now that the weather has cleared up, it's time to get the house washed. Get rid of dirt and bugs, YES!

Mockingbird · Joined: 05 Jul 2009 Posts: 37

One thing I noticed living in the Northeast is that road salt really takes a toll on the porch and back deck. I have been using a hose to wash down the surface as soon as the temperature increases just to sve the wer on the wood and to prevent tracking into the house. I would suggest in the northeast to schedule an exterior cleaning before indoor carpet cleaning time in the spring