The Best Time to Tackle Sidewalk Cleaning
Power Washing your Sidewalks
It’s finally getting warm again, the snow is gone, and you can finally enjoy the good weather of the months coming ahead, right? Wrong. Well, at least not entirely. Once the low temperatures are gone and you start coming out of your house more often, you will start realizing that cleaning and clearing up outside of your house is the best strategy for you to enjoy this nice weather. Power washing your sidewalks, driveways, and home can make a big difference.
Spring Cleaning
The higher the temperatures and the lighter your mood, the more things you will feel like accomplishing. Among those, getting rid of things (hence the raging spring garage sales) and cleaning your home. In all honesty, nobody wants to clean a house, unless it’s theirs. But it’s part of the responsibility of a homeowner: giving maintenance to a house. And Cincinnati power washing doesn’t just benefit you, but everyone on your block.
Not only is it important to keep the inside of your house clean, but it’s equally important for the backyard and the front lawn. If your house has a garage on the front, this is the part you will want to pay the most attention to. Stains on your garage floor or on the driveway start making your house look uncared for.
Nobody likes to see that
Some of the toughest stains to clean are bird droppings or those of your unpleasant neighbor’s dog. Besides, nobody likes unwelcoming smells from unknown sources on the ground. They can start eroding the brick or leaving permanent stains on the concrete. If they’re somewhere on the grass and you can still pick them up (even if they aren’t your dog’s), do it.
Bird droppings can also be potentially harmful because of the pathogens and microbes they carry. If a good old hose doesn’t do the trick to areas where it’s still stuck to the ground, try testing power cleaning with a pressure washer. If that doesn’t work either, you might want to look into the equipment that Cincinnati is using. They take sidewalk cleaning to a whole other level because of the number of crows in the area. Now that is what I would call power cleaning.
Sidewalk Etiquette
Depending on the weather conditions, it’s recommended to do certain things to keep sidewalks clear and safe for pedestrians. It is the property owner’s responsibility to keep them that way, and not just during the spring. In the wintertime, that means to remove snow and ice to avoid slips and falls. When your garden has been cleaned and mowed, clippings, leaves, and branches from the trees should be removed too. Keeping branches trimmed to keep people from hitting their faces when passing by is also recommended.
It’s common to see a lot of people looking down to their cell phones screens while they walk on sidewalks these days. It’s like they’ve got them stuck to their hands. This causes them to stop paying attention to their path, and while we’re not in a situation of the likes of China yet where accidents might happen in the overcrowded street crossings, we might want to start by keeping the way safe for everyone in all kinds of weather.
- Published in Cincinnati Powerwashing, Deck Cleaning, Exterior Cleaning, Gutter Cleaning, Powerwashing, Pressure Cleaning, Sidewalk Cleaning
Time to Freshen up Your Deck
It’s Deck Cleaning Time
There’s nothing quite like enjoying a nice summer day relaxing on your deck with friends and family. That’s why you decided to get it: to spend quality time with those close to you. However, To make your deck fresh like when it was built, you may need a deck cleaning.
When the temperatures drop our good old deck sees a lot less use but a lot more elements of abuse. Winter can be tough on your deck and anything that lives outside. It can leave your deck looking dull and can even damage it. So as soon as winter is gone, here are some things you can do to liven your deck back up and get it ready for summer.
Deck Cleaning 101
Keeping it clean is the first line of defense against the elements. A clean deck is a happy deck. A thorough deck cleaning can keep it not only looking good but can also prevent mold from forming. Also make sure you are cleaning around your deck. Plants around your deck can hold moisture that in time can cause your deck to fill up with mold and possibly lead to rot.
The first thing you can do to keep it clean is to give it a good scrubbing with soap and water. In most cases this is all that’s needed. If you need some additional help, there are some products that can help remove stains, mold, or any other type of buildup.
If you need to take it step further, power washing is a great option. It can reach places that are very hard to get to just with a garden hose and brush. The one thing to keep an eye out is that it can also strip off some of the finish from your deck. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though, as long as you plan on re-treating your wood.
Seal the Deal
After cleaning your deck, you might notice that it looks better but not quite as you remember it. That’s because finish on the wood might have started to break down. This is normal, especially if you went the power washing route to clean it up.
Refinishing the wood is a fairly simple thing to do. Start by giving it a light sanding and apply either a dye or a sealer. Some sealers include a dye if you wish to change the color of the wood a bit.
Before you start, make sure that you find 2-3 days of sunshine. Even a slight drizzle can ruin the sealer and you might have to sand and reapply it again.
A Rotten Thing to Happen
Although there are many things we can do to make sure we extend the life our wooden deck the wood can eventually rot.
To start off you need to evaluate the extent of the damage. How many and which boards and pieces are damaged? What usually happens is that when you start replacing the pieces that you found rot on you will probably find more. So make sure you are prepared to for that, both with time and budget.
This is one of the cases where you might want to hire a contractor, because the process of finding and fixing rot can be very time consuming if you don’t know exactly what to look for.
- Published in Cincinnati Powerwashing, Deck Cleaning, Powerwashing