If you’re a homeowner, you most likely spend most of your time inside the house. Because of this, you might focus more on the cleanliness and aesthetic of its interior. And while it’s important to maintain the interior of your home, you shouldn’t neglect the outside. A big chunk of your home’s value relies in its curb appeal, or how it looks to passersby on the street. If a home’s exterior is lacking due to an old or bad paint job, damage, or dirt, its value is decreasing every day. In some cases, it might simply be time to invest in exterior house painting. But just as important is general maintenance and cleaning. One way to efficiently clean the exterior of your home is by power washing it.
What is Power Washing?
Just as it sounds, power washing refers to washing a surface with a little added oomph. This extra power comes from built up pressure, which then shoots out of a small nozzle that targets the water to a specific area at a long range. Because homes are relatively large, this power and range makes reaching all areas of the exterior much easier.
Are Power Washing and Pressure Washing the Same?
The terms pressure washing and power washing are often used interchangeably. Technically, pressure washing refers solely to pressurized water while power washing also heats the water. Both methods are effective for cleaning a home’s exterior. If your home is painted, you do have to be careful while pressure or power washing so that you don’t damage the exterior painting job.
Why Power Washing is Important
Dirt, dust, and grime can build up slowly on surfaces. Because we spend so much time inside our homes, we might not pay too much attention to how dirty the outside has become. Especially in areas with extreme weather conditions, varied seasons, and less open spaces with more traffic and industry (urban environments), homes can get filthy in no time. Sometimes this filth can even leak into the home’s interior.
Power washing offers a solution for preventing further damage caused by dirt, especially washers that combine soap with the water. Mildew and mold can stick to a home’s surface, making them difficult to remove. High pressure and heat can forcibly remove these materials and save you the hassle of climbing up ladders or leaning out of windows with scrubbing materials.
How Often to Power Wash?
How often you power wash will depend on how dirty your home gets. As a general rule, though, once a year is usually enough to get rid of the grime that has built up.
It’s also a good idea to power wash your home if you plan on investing in a new coat of paint for the exterior. Most professional painters will let you know this, as painting over a dirty surface can lead to further damage. However, you don’t want to strip the old paint job via power washing. If you do want to strip the paint, you should hire a painting service to do it properly.
All American Painting Plus, Inc. has been helping families with their interior and exterior home painting projects for over 25 years. For an estimate or more information on our painting and power washing services, call us at 703-620-5563, or send us an email at info@aapplus.com!
