Keeping the interior of your home neat and tidy is easy for most people. However, when it comes to the outdoors, many feel lost when faced with cleaning and tidying the various outdoor areas around your home.
There are plenty of outdoor spaces that do not get enough attention when dealing with the subject of cleaning and maintaining outdoor areas. Our list of seven cleaning hacks will hopefully help you to prioritize your outdoor areas of concern as you begin your summer cleaning.
1. Cleaning the Facade of Your Home
Many homes begin to look faded and dingy over time. Brick and siding are exposed to rain and dirt and often turn an unsightly green color over time. However, this is an easy fix. If you have a pressure washer, then you can easily spray your home with soap and water to leave a bright and shiny home that looks almost brand new.
Your home is exposed to the elements, this is why you may have invested in home hazard insurance (or should if you have not yet). If you do not have a pressure washer, then you can rent one with which to clean your home.
There are also many cleaning and maintenance services that offer pressure washing for residential homes to help make your home look brand new.
2. Cleaning a Driveway/Deck
The driveway, deck, or patio is equally exposed to the elements and can easily become discolored due to the dirt and rain that hits it. This is another outdoor cleaning project that is best served with a pressure washer.
Pressure washers are typically supplied with different nozzles to clean different areas. Be sure that you use a lower pressure on wood than you would on concrete.
An easy way to protect your concrete from further decay is to use a painting roller to seal it with a water sealer. This will not protect it forever, but it will keep it looking fresh for a longer period of time.
3. Cleaning Your Grill
Using your grill is one of the many joys of the spring and summer. Everyone loves a good burger in the summertime. The easiest way to clean your grill is to steam clean it after every use.
When you are done using your grill, simply place a wet newspaper on the grill and close the lid. In about 30 minutes, you should be able to wipe the grates down and have a clean and ready to use grill next time.
4. Cleaning Patio Furniture
If you have plastic or metal patio furniture, it can easily be cleaned with the pressure washer. Fabric on the other hand is best scrubbed with warm soapy water. Use blue Dawn dishwashing liquid for the best results.
5. Cleaning the Gutters
Cleaning the gutters is one of the worst outdoor cleaning projects for the home. However, there is an easy way to clean out your gutters that might not be so bad.
You can easily remove leaves and debris from your gutters by blasting those leaves with a leaf blower. You can have your gutters cleaned and working properly in no time.
6. Cleaning the Landscaping
Overgrown flower beds and out of control shrubs can quickly ruin the curb appeal of your home. Invest the time to remove weeds, trim the shrubs back with electric trimmers to make the task easy and simple. You may also want to put down fresh mulch or pine straw for an added level of cleanliness to finish off your look.
7. Cleaning Outdoor Clutter
Make a space for all of your yard tools to live when you are not using them. Whether you have a potting shed where you keep your yard tools or you simply have an area of your garage to place them, keeping them out of the yard is crucial.
Yard tools left out add instant clutter to the yard and make it look untidy, as opposed to the neat and clean look that you would probably prefer for your home.
A lot of families have an out-of-sight, out-of-mind philosophy when it comes to their yards. Making sure that they are clean and neat often seems like a distracting chore.
However, if you let your yard go you may find that the outdoor work piles up quickly and becomes overwhelming. Use these 7 hacks to help you regain control of your outdoor spaces.
Even more importantly, is that you make sure to maintain the spaces once you have them clean and sorted out, so that the space remains neat and does not become an overwhelming eye sore later.
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