Washing your home’s exterior may be low on your list of priorities, but there are several reasons to make it a part of your regular home maintenance routine.
Your home bears the brunt of mother nature’s harsh elements. Sun, rain, snow, smoke, dirt, moss, and mold are some of the most destructive contenders. But by making house washing a regular part of your routine, you can increase curb appeal, reduce damage, and protect your investment.
Here are five reasons you should wash your home’s exterior. But, first, let’s clear up the difference between “soft washing” and “pressure washing.”
Pressure Washing
Pressure washing utilizes a high-pressure pump system that sprays a concentrated stream of water to remove stains and debris from surfaces. While this method is effective on tough surfaces like driveways and sidewalks, it’s not ideal for home exteriors for a few reasons.
First, high-pressure washing alone does not always remove stubborn grit and grime.
Worse, excessive water pressure can potentially damage stucco, siding, and wood exteriors.
Also worth mentioning, pressure washing a home is risky and labor-intensive because it can require ladders or scaffolding.
Soft Washing
These are a couple of reasons we suggest using the soft wash approach.
When professionals soft wash your home, they combine low-pressure water and environmentally-safe cleaning detergents, which gently remove contaminants from surfaces without damaging your home.
Soft washing is also safer for people because it does not require ladders or scaffolding. Instead, professionals use systems and tools that allow them to clean your home with their feet firmly planted on the ground.
Five Major Reasons to Wash Your Home’s Exterior
Prevent Long-Term Damage
Moisture feeds mold and mildew, which love to cling to home exteriors. Build-up may start slow, but over time it will thrive, damaging wood and siding and staining concrete.
Neglecting your house washing duties may lead to long-term damage that will cost far more than it would to pay a professional to give your home a safe and thorough clean.
Increase Curb Appeal
Like it or not, guests, neighbors, and buyers form an opinion about you and your home the minute they pull into the driveway. If the exterior is covered with mold and mildew, they’ll assume—whether right or wrong—that the interior is also neglected.
Keeping up with exterior maintenance increases your property value, keeps your HOA and neighbors quiet, and gives your home a brand-new sparkle. What’s not to love about that?
Protect Your Family
If you’re not wooed by increased curb appeal, consider your health. While mold and mildew damage homes and look nasty, they also impact our repository health. If you suffer from asthma or allergies, mold and mildew may be the culprit.
By soft washing your home’s exterior, you can protect your family from mold and mildew and ensure that they breathe easy and maintain clear respiratory health.
Primes Your Exterior for Renovation
Whether you’re giving your home a new coat of paint, replacing a piece of cracked siding, swapping out exterior trim, or even caulking window panes, it’s always best to start these tasks with a clean slate.
While it may seem unnecessary, most stain and paint manufacturers recommend that you thoroughly clean surfaces before applying the product.
From where we sit, there’s no point in painting your home only to watch it crack because you didn’t prep for the job.
Should I Soft Wash My Own Home?
The short answer is “no.”
House washing is tricky business: If you apply too much force with a standard pressure washer, you may end up damaging your home. Additionally, a thorough house wash requires surface- and environmentally-safe surfactants and foaming agents—which effectively kill off the spores to keep the growth from returning. Professionals are trained to apply these agents correctly.
And let’s not forget the dangerous ladders. Standard power washing setups do not come with poles long enough to reach roof peaks and require ladders and scaffolding, which puts you at unnecessary risk.
Soft washing systems allow techs to apply surface-safe amounts of pressure and reach soaring heights from the ground.
Men In Kilts to the Rescue
Safe for houses. Dangerous for dirt. That’s the Men In Kilts motto. Our technicians are trained to tackle all surfaces. We’ll safely remove green algae, mold, fungus, dirt, and moss—without damaging vinyl, stucco, concrete, aluminum, and other sensitive surfaces.
Before we begin, we evaluate the exterior of your home, taking into account the exterior materials and soil levels. Based on this checklist, we select the proper pressure, environmentally-safe detergents and oxidizers, and use our “safe wash” soft wash approach to make your home look good as new.
Get a free estimate to have professional exterior home cleaning services by Men In Kilts when you call (888) 292-1176.
