Ways To Clean Your Exterior To Improve Your Home's Overall Look
Follow these helpful tips before you get started on the cleaning of your home exterior.
21/05/2020
If you take a good look at the exterior of your home right now, you will probably see a lot of flaws that detract from the beauty of your home. However, the good news is that there is a lot you can do to make your home look much better. One way is to clean up that exterior until you are satisfied with the results.
Here are some tips to help you get started on the cleaning of your home exterior.
Make A Checklist Of Home Exterior Problems
It is always good to start by listing down the problems that you see in your home exterior. Are the exterior walls showing signs of weathering? Do you see green moss growing near your roof gutters? And is that mold you spot near your front door? Problems like these really do lower the value of your home’s appearance.
Write Down Possible Solutions
Take a moment to jot down what you have to do to make your home exteriors clean again. You may think that using a power washer is a good solution, but that depends on the kind of cleaning that you have to do. It would definitely help you with the heavy cleaning.
For light cleaning, you may just need a bucket of detergent solution and a handy cleaning brush. Make sure to wear latex gloves in order to protect your hands, especially if the detergent solution is too harsh on your skin.
You will also have to factor in cleaning your gutters, even if that’s not the most obviously dirty part of your home exteriors. If you have lots of trees, their leaves may already be clogging up the gutters which may result in drips down your house exterior walls.
Make Sure To Clean Your Front Door
Since the front door is the first aspect of your house that people will see when they drop by to visit, it pays to clean it first. Does the front door have any glass panels built into it? You may need to invest in a commercial glass cleaner and some spotless rags to clean that part first. You may also want to use a mild dishwashing soap mixed with water to clean the other parts. If the door is mainly made of wood, you may just need to wipe down the door exterior until all dust and foreign substances have been removed. Then you can apply some wax used to polish wood on the dry surface. Use a clean rag to polish the wax after it dries.
Clean Off Window Screens
It can be a major hassle to clean window screens if they are fixed securely to the perimeter of your windows and cannot be removed. You may need a power washer for this task as well - just be sure it is at the lowest setting possible. Direct pressure on the screen itself, but make sure the windows are wide open first. You can then sponge down the screens with detergent soap diluted with water. Use the power washer again to remove the soap suds on the screen until you can see through the screen clearly. Let it dry, and then inspect the screen again to see if there is any dust and cobwebs still sticking to it. If yes, go through the process again until the screen is perfectly clean.
Clean Windows As Well
You don’t have to buy very expensive cleaning solutions just to clean your glass windows. All you really need is a mild solution of dishwashing liquid diluted with water, a clean sponge, and a squeegee. Use the sponge dipped in the diluted solution to wash down the windows, and rinse it off with tap water. You can then rely on the squeegee to remove excess water from the windows until everything shines, and you can see clearly through the glass.
Power Wash Your Exterior Walls
You may actually need to use a power washer for those hard-to-reach parts of your exterior walls. For heavy-duty cleaning, a power washer would be a good idea since it does reduce the effort on your part to get rid of dirt, bird poop, and mold that has formed on your exteriors. If you don’t own a power washer, you can always contact a company like Under Pressure Soft Wash and Power Washing to do the job for you.
Often, you will find that power washers are a useful tool to cut down on the time needed to clean parts of your home. This includes your driveway and perimeter walls. Used the right way, you can literally finish cleaning in half the time it takes to scrub parts of your home by hand. It can also be more effective because of the pressure of the water ejected by the power washer.
Final Takeaway
You really do need to keep up with the maintenance of your home exterior so that the market value of your home doesn’t shrink. Remember, that is the first part that visitors will see from the sidewalk. If you are planning to eventually sell your home, you will have to bear in mind what a prospective home buyer would be looking for. If the curb appeal is satisfactory, buyers will probably want to take the next step in the home purchase process.