Home Maintenance

Tips for Cleaning Your Home’s Exterior

Maintaining your home is an ongoing project. The exterior requires particular attention, as the weather can wreak havoc on all surfaces. While the weather is still lovely for outdoor projects, take advantage of these tips for exterior cleaning:

• Once or twice a year, it’s a good idea to power wash your house, particularly if your region has poor air quality or large amounts of dirt deposited by the rain. You can purchase or rent a power washer, which uses your garden hose to shoot a high-pressure jet of water. It’s best to work from top to bottom to push down the dirty water.
• A solution of 1 tsp. trisodium phosphate dissolved in a gallon of water will clean siding, masonry, rock, wood, and painted surfaces.
• Mildew can be treated with regular laundry bleach applied with a sponge. Tackle dark or heavy stains with a solution of 1/4 cup muriatic acid in 2.5 cups of water. Use a wire brush and elbow grease. If you have mossy or slimy paths or driveways, water blast or scrub the affected area with a solution of laundry bleach and water (follow instructions on bottle for dilution). Let the solution dry, then hose it off. Don’t water blast your asphalt driveways, as the high pressure spray can damage the surface.
• Rust on hardware and window screens can be removed with a kerosene-soaked rag.
• Bring out the beauty of naturally weathered wood with oxalic acid applied with a scrub brush (read the manufacturer’s recommendations for dilution).
• Keep an eye on trees growing close to your house. Too much shade can cause moisture problems. Trim back branches that can move or damage roof tiles.

• Plants can cause blockage by growing into drains or weaken foundations by growing under them. Remove or kill these plants to prevent future pro bl ems. If damage has already been caused to the foundations, seek advice from a professional.
• If your home has foundation vents, keep your plants trimmed back and away from these vents to prevent moisture build-up and allow air to circulate.

While cleaning your home’s exterior, keep an eye out for maintenance problems such as peeling paint, loose bricks or shutters, evidence of excessive moisture, deteriorating eaves and fascia, etc. You should also watch for evidence of pests of all sorts, like termites, spiders, insects, and rodents. They can cause mess and destruction that should not be ignored.

If you are diligent at keeping the exterior of your house clean, it will help you become more aware of problems that might otherwise go unnoticed.

 

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Preparing For Weather Changes

Time to Declutter Your Gutters

Although summer isn’t yet over, this is a great time to inspect your rain gutters, if you have them, and prepare for wetter weather. Before heavy rains come, take the time to focus on cleaning, repair, replacement or installation of rain gutters.

Rain gutters move falling water from your roof to a downspout to drain away from your property. What else is there to know? Well, there is very good reason to have them. Without gutters and downspouts, water would erode the soil around your foundation, splash dirt onto your siding, and quite likely leak into your basement or crawlspace. If you have a rain barrel or cistern, you can collect the water for various uses.

Rain gutters are constructed of many different materials, such as cast iron, lead, zinc, galvanized steel, painted steel, painted aluminum, copper, concrete, stone, wood, and PVC and other plastics. If you need to replace or install, choose the best option for your budget and for the architecture of your home.
Older gutters and downspouts can be replaced and upgraded to newer systems with improved appearance and performance. You can also find exact replicas of systems used on older homes, if you want to maintain a consistent appearance (e.g. corrugated downspouts and decorative cast-aluminum brackets).

So–back to decluttering! Regular cleaning is necessary, because a great deal of roof debris can find its way into your gutters. Rain gutters can be equipped with gutter screens, louvers or solid hoods to reduce the amount of debris. If you don’t keep them cleaned out, clogging will eventually occur, which means that water can leak into your house as it backs up in the gutter. Additionally, clogged gutters can lead to stagnant water build-up, allowing mosquitoes to breed, and grasses and weeds to grow (yes, right in the gutter!).

Of course, gutters aren’t necessary for every house or every roof slope. If your house has a broad overhang, it may cast runoff water well away from the house, where proper grading and drainage can carry it safely away.

Whatever preparation your home needs for a change in weather, give yourself enough time to do your research and make good choices.

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