The first thing that captures your attention when you walk into a home compound is the flowers, lawns, fences, and the overall exterior of the house. In this regard, as a homeowner, keeping your exterior clean should be a priority.
Remember, the exterior is usually exposed to weather elements such as wind, snow, and rain. Thus, you should consider cleaning it more often. It sounds like a tiresome undertaking, but with the appropriate know-how, you should find it easy to clean your home exterior. In light of this, below are six ways to keep your home exterior sparkling clean:
Pressure Wash
It’s a real hustle to clean your windows, roof, or sidings using a rug and bucket of water while hanging precariously on a ladder. More so, it’s exhausting, even at the very thought of it, not to mention the potential accidents you might face when cleaning your home exterior using this method. Luckily, there’s a better alternative. Pressure washing cancels out the tiring and daunting part of cleaning your home exterior. You’ll definitely like it because it’s fast, safer, and more effective than some other regular cleaning methods. It’s especially useful for hard-to-clean areas, say textured surfaces that hold dirt.
However, you don’t just wake up one day and start pressure washing. There’s a lot that goes into ensuring the cleaning is done effectively, from choosing the right nozzle size to applying the correct pressure depending on the surface being cleaned. As such, you’re better off delegating the pressure washing chores to professionals. If you live on the Atlantic coast of Florida, contact reliable power washing Jacksonville, FL companies, and you’ll have your home exterior looking brand new. Negotiate for a good price and enjoy the transformation of your home exterior.
Remove Mold And Mildew
Depending on the material used for your home’s exterior cladding, cleaning mold, moss, and mildew may demand different approaches. For instance, if part of your exterior is wooden, using powdered oxygen bleach would be more effective than using a traditional solution like liquid bleach.
And as for bricks and stone walls, spraying some cleaning solutions gets the algae and mold off your home for about a year. You can easily fetch these supplies from your nearest hardware store. Don’t worry if you don’t know the specific solutions because reliable stores will always give worthwhile recommendations.
Clean Your Windows
Nothing puts off buyers or visitors from your home than rain watermarks on your windows. Again, you’ll not convince anyone that your home interior is clean if the windows say otherwise. Thus, make it a habit of cleaning your windows regularly.
While there are several approaches that you could use, consider taking advantage of homemade solutions. A good example is mixing vinegar with warm water and wiping it down with a dry cloth or newspaper. It gets you faster results, and you’ll not spend too much energy scrubbing one window.
Whichever cleaning method you use, take care not to apply too much pressure as you might end up shuttering the windows while in the process.
Check On Your Roof
The roof being the top-most point of your home’s exterior, it should come first during any general cleaning exercise. It’s not logical to start with other parts then dirty them again with debris trickling down from the roof.
First, identify what kind of dirt is on your roof. Then, decide what cleaning technique to use. For example, if the roof is covered in dry leaves, a simple sweep will make it clean. But if there’s more stubborn dirt, like algae, you’ll need to have a more comprehensive treatment procedure for your roof.
It might also require the assistance of professionals because the roof is a very sensitive part of the house. For one, for the fact that it’s way up there, you’d want to get help and avoid the possibility of accidents occurring. Secondly, if you aren’t careful enough, you might end up dislocating the roofing materials and pave the way for leaks.
While at it, don’t forget the gutters. Usually, rainwater washes down most dirt towards the gutter, making it particularly dirty, especially if their slope doesn’t support effective washing away of the dirt. You can easily clean the gutters by removing the accumulated debris using a combination of scoops, shovels, leaf blowers, cleaning wands, and a microfiber cleaning sponge plus mop. Cleaning your gutter helps prevent damage to the siding and roofing of your home. While in the process, you can also reach for the slides and remove the cobwebs and algae.
Tidy Up Your Porch
The porch is another exterior section susceptible to dirt, given the numerous activities there. Start by collecting all the kids’ toys and putting them in a basket. Then, remove all furniture to allow you unlimited access to the floor. You can also take this opportunity to declutter. Identify some of the items you rarely use and dispose of them.
Before starting the cleanup, you’d also want to cover plants that during the process. After all the preparations, sweep the floor and wash it using soapy water, which could generally get all the dirt and stains off. If it’s a wooden deck, sweeping is usually enough, unless dirt has accumulated excessively, for which case you might need to pressure wash. Once it’s sparkling clean and dried up, arrange the furniture on the porch according to your liking. Don’t forget to add new decorations, floor mats, furniture, and lighting to make the deck more appealing and comfortable.
Finally, go to the surrounding parts of the porch. Carefully trim some of the overgrown plants, mow the lawn, and water the plants. Finish off the exercise by collecting all the dry leaves to leave the lawn looking green and sparkling clean.
Clean Your Pavements
After all the cleaning, sweeping, and scrubbing your home’s exterior elements, you should also attend to your pavements. You could start with the pavement leading to the porch or front door. Next, proceed to the driveway and perhaps the outdoor parking area.
If you have pavers on the driveways and footpaths, they require extra care to maintain their glow. For any stains, you can pressure wash with mild bleach. Afterwards, regular cleaning should help maintain their appearance.
Conclusion
With a small amount of cash investment and planning, it’s possible to keep your home exterior sparkling clean. Make sure to look into all the outside surfaces, including driveways, gutters, roof, cladding, windows, and deck. For any cleaning aspect you can’t manage, maybe due to lack of time or insufficient know-how, a little help from cleaning agents and professionals should help you sail through.
