Property Preservation & Property Maintenance
Property Preservation & Property Maintenance
Property maintenance is important because the image and value of your property are directly impacted by your curb appeal. When selling your home property preservation can keep your home looking its best. A house that looks dirty and neglected will naturally deter potential buyers and be unpleasant for you, your family, and guests. That’s why on this blog Carlton Cleans is providing you with several inexpensive and easy ideas for property preservation and property maintainenance on your property.
Curb Appeal Ideas
A great start to this process is to have power washing done to your driveway, sidewalks and exterior of your house. To restore the beauty of a wooden deck, we highly recommend using cleaners and scrubbing to remove mold, mildew and dirt. Visit our deck cleaning and deck staining blogs to have your deck surface look its best.
Landscaping
Yard work such as removing organic debris and planting flowers or trees will bring some life to your garden. Greenery also adds privacy for you and your guests while spending time in the sun.
Adding lighting to the exterior of your house is the perfect way to add some ambience to the property at night. It will accentuate the architecture of your house making it more appealing from dusk until dawn. Another simple way to increase curb appeal is to keep your windows clean so that they always shine.
Our Services
Carlton Cleans specializes in property maintenance and property preservation, which refers to the process of securing, protecting, maintaining appearence, and preparing properties for sale. Our comprehensive list of services includes:
- Replacing doors and windows.
- Garden Maintenance.
- Addressing code violations.
- Tarping of leaking roofs.
- Making necessary emergency repairs to prevent further damage.
- Securing the property’s pool to eliminate any safety risks.
Contact Carlton Cleans
If you are interested in receiving property maintenanceor property preservation services then contact us today to schedule an appointment. You may also fill out our online form for a prompt estimate.
Pressure Washing &
Deck
Deck
Home
Property Preservation &
Roof Cleaning &
5 Outdoor Spring Cleaning Tips
Spring has officially arrived and it’s time for spring cleaning. This past winter was harsh and has probably caused quite a bit of damage to your home’s exterior. Between fall’s leaves, winter’s snow and ice, and spring’s pollen, you could probably use some outdoor spring cleaning tips.
- Cleaning Up the Siding – The siding of your home is what the majority of people notice when they first look at your home, and the primary color of your home is directly influenced by the color and condition of the siding. In rare cases, the siding may need to be replaced, but that’s only necessary if it’s damaged or missing. In other cases, a quick power wash will do just fine. Power washing your home is a quick, easy way to bring your home back to life and give it that color that it was lacking.
A power washer can reach where hoses and sponges just can’t. The power that comes from the tip of the pressure washing hose is around 3000 PSI and can even get those moldy spots underneath the panels that creep out unexpectedly. - Yard Work – We all dread the thought of cleaning up the yard, but just picture the results! Giving your yard that beautiful view back can make all the difference in the world, especially when you have guests over for a cookout. It’s a good idea to trim your trees as well to clear out any spots that may be blocking your view. Clean up the leaves and check for bald spots in your grass. If you find any bald spots (you likely will), then just plant some more grass seeds there and help it grow back. Keeping a healthy yard is one of the most time-consuming and tiresome parts about spring. At least you only have to do this part once a year, though.
- Deck Cleaning – Clear off the deck of any furniture and other objects and get ready for a hard scrubbing. We recommend not pressure washing your deck to preserve its health and keep it in good shape, because a pressure washer can damage the wood fibers. Instead, grab a brush and some wood cleaner. Once it’s all soaked up and scrubbed down, it’s time for some deck stain. Staining your deck can preserve it for the months or years to come. Deck staining can protect against heavy foot traffic, severe weather conditions, pet scratches, and general wear-and-tear.
- Clear out the Gutters – Oftentimes we forget about the gutters because we can’t actually see what’s in them. Hop on a ladder and head up there to see what we’re talking about. It can get pretty nasty, but it can also cause damage to your home if not cleared out regularly. The best way to do this is the old fashioned way: rubber gloves and a trash bag. Once you clean the vast majority of debris out of the gutters, the water should wash the rest down. Feel free to test and observe your gutters by spraying the hose up there and see where the water goes.
- Clean the Windows – The windows are always there and can get pretty dirty and cloudy if not cleaned regularly, especially during the beginning of spring. Winter moisture builds up around the edges and can even create a mold residue. To make matters worse, pollen stacks up on top of it all in the spring. Always be sure to keep your windows clean and sparkling, just like the rest of your house.
Spring Cleaning Checklist
In order to keep your home in top-notch condition, it’s important to keep it maintained. Here’s a quick checklist of the most important things to do:
✓ Clean out the gutters of debris
✓ Power wash the siding and other exteriors of your home
✓ Scrub and stain your deck
✓ Trim the trees, if possible
✓ Clean up the yard of leaves and other miscellaneous debris
✓ Clean your windows to give them a sleek shine
Curb Appeal Ideas – Cleaning Exterior
Curb Appeal Ideas – Cleaning Exterior
Use these curb appeal ideas from Carlton Cleans to keep your house looking its best. Cleaning the exterior of your home is important because it adds to your curb appeal.
Exterior Cleanliness
How often do you look at the exterior of a house and think, “that is one old home”? If the home exterior is not inviting, nobody will even consider looking at what you have inside, which could be where you plan to make your positive impression. A cleaner home is a healthier home, and everyone is trying to go green now. Over time your home receives buildup of mold, mildew, dirt, and grime. Each of these results in a much less attractive and less healthy home.
Exterior Home Cleaning – What’s Available?
After you have decided to use our curb appeal ideas and decide that your home needs to be cleaned, how do you clean your house’s exterior? Most people assume a hose will do the job. There are ways to do the entire exterior of a house with a hose, but it requires scrubbing and much more physical labor than you need. Also, scrubbing a house can only reach so much of the exterior. For those of you with plants and vegetation around your home, keep in mind that the cleaning chemicals used can affect them. Some of the buildup can get in deep crevices, especially on older houses. These can only be reached by a power washer or pressure washer.
Curb Appeal Ideas
The best of curb appeal ideas is to clean your house’s exterior by power washing it. A good power wash can get in the deep crevices on some surfaces that you can’t reach with other methods. Pressure washing is perfect for cleaning brick, stone, vinyl, and other materials. As opposed to methods such as a hose with scrubbing, pressure washing can take significantly less time. Pressure washing houses restores them to looking like new again.
Focus on the Outside
If you’re considering selling your home, or just having some guests over, it will be of high value for you to use our curb appeal ideas and pretty-up the exterior of your house. Most people tend to ignore the outside of the house and just focus on the inside of the house. Cleaning the inside is important, but let’s be honest here: we see the outside before we even step foot on the inside.
Contact Carlton Cleans
Finally, it is a good idea to hire a professional to clean your home’s exterior. This is mostly because pressure washing can cause severe damage to your home and, more importantly, you if done improperly.
5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Home Exterior
Improving Your Homes Appearance
Exterior home cleaning is one of the quickest and most effective ways to improve the appearance of your home and increase your properties curb appeal. Who doesn’t like to spend time outside during the summer? Things are heating up, and so are the barbeques. Do you enjoy hosting great backyard parties or just having a backyard getaway? Following these five easy recommendations will ensure your home is looking it’s best this summer!
Exterior Home Cleaning
Powerwashing the exterior of your home
After the long winter, there is bound to be a lot of dirt and grime that has collected on your outdoor abode, and now is the best time to get things done. Power washing your deck, railings, or patio furniture is a great place to start. Power washing allows a quick and easy alternative to cleaning everything by hand. It is as simple as taking the power washer to the deck itself to make it shine like any other beautiful deck out there. Power washing is also safe to use on all exterior parts of your home. By power washing your deck, windows, sidewalks and/or driveways your home will begin to sparkle in no time!
Improving the appeal of your deck
If your deck doesn’t quite have that razzle-dazzle appeal that you were hoping for after cleaning away the grime build-up, applying a fresh coat of stain can help revitalize it and really make it stand out. Deciding on the best time to stain your deck is very important as the weather must cooperate to ensure the best results. To boost the color scheme, you could consider applying a fresh coat of paint to all your patio furniture as well. Additionally, if you find that there are parts of your home’s exterior that could use some touch-up paint, it would not be too much to go ahead and add a little extra pizzazz.
Sprucing up with some greenery
It never hurts to add some flowers. To improve the ambiance of the deck itself, simply add some hanging plants to add some color to your surroundings. Additionally, some basic shrubbery or potted trees or plants can add additional privacy for you and your guests while enjoying your time in the sun. By performing some basic landscaping (i.e., trimming the hedges, mowing the lawn, or planting new flowers) will allow for a more soothing and relaxing time spent outdoors.
Add additional lighting
If you live in an older home, you could better accentuate the beautiful architecture by adding some additional lighting to the porch and sidewalk areas. Additional lighting allows you and your friends to extend your time spent outside well into the twilight hours of the day. Furthermore, additional lighting is a very simple DIY task and will give a more comforting feel to your outdoor area.
Clean Gutters
Over time, gutters fill with leaves, branches, and debris that can be visible from the street. Make it a habit to clean out your gutters regularly and during dry weather. Clean gutters will allow for the water to flow properly through the downspout and not overflow onto your deck or other parts of your home exterior, minimizing the likelihood of damage.
Whether you need to freshen your exterior home appearance with a little paint, stain or power washing, Carlton Cleans can assist you in all your exterior home cleaning projects. Contact us today!
Maintaining IPE or Hard Wood Decks in General
Algae and mold will grow on a hard wood deck like any other surface around the exterior of your home when the environment is moist, warm and shady. When your hard wood deck is covered in algae or mold it gets slippery and unsafe. Carlton Cleans, LLC provides a scrub brush cleaning service followed by wood brightener on hard wood decks such as IPE. We do no use a pressure washer in cleaning hard wood decks. We will remove the unwanted organics restoring the wood to a clean natural state.
The service will not restore the wood to the deep wonderful color you saw when the wood was new. The surface color will still be changed from the sun and general out door environment but the algae and mold (green/black) will be removed. The deep colors you saw when the hard wood was new will come out when the wood is wet (after a rain but disappears when its dry) or when a translucent oil is applied. The oil will bring the color back full time for a few months, maybe up to 6 months if the wood is well seasoned. Due to the density of hard wood oil will not penetrate deep thus the short oiled life.
We recommend having regular cleanings to keep the deck safe and beautiful. Continual oiling exterior hard wood is not cost effective, however, if you are have many special occasions during the spring or summer than getting an oil treatment that year may be worth the expense. The pictures will look great on an oiled hard wood deck.
Components of Residential Curb Appeal Enhancement Offered by Carlton Cleans, LLC
Curb Appeal Tips for your Residental Property
Interested in adding curb appeal to your residential property? Adding curb appeal has never been easier. Just follow our curb appeal tips below to increase the value of your property and leave your home looking great!
Roof Cleaning:
A low water pressure method of cleaning organic stains from the roof for increased curb appeal. This is especially valuable before listing the house for sale. In Montgomery County, MD it is common to see stains and streaks on the roof. In Silver Spring, for example, there are many wooded areas which in combination with warm wet weather mold, algae and fungus thrive. We provide a chemical cleaning with little run off to remove the organics. We also bag the downspouts and capture any runoff during the cleaning. However, this is minimized by our low-pressure application equipment which allows Carlton Cleans, LLC to apply the cleaning mix to the roof in low volume to kill the organics.
Adding Curb Appeal
Exterior House Wash:
Our exterior house washing service is an application of our house cleaning mix, dwell and rinse with hot water. We provide cleaning of siding, brick and composite siding; We do not use the pressure washer close to the surface of the house. We apply the hot water far enough from the house to “shower the surface” after the cleaning mix has pulled the dirt from the surface. The cleaning is performed by the cleaning mix and volume of water verses pressure. We provide an effective cleaning method without causing damage to the surface.
If you are having your house painted than a house wash is a must service for better paint adhesion and longevity. Many painting companies will offer a house wash service before painting. However, they often do not provide a quality service due to lack of experience and proper equipment. House washing is a necessary evil to the painting companies, and they rarely invest the necessary resources to the task.
Gutter Cleaning:
Gutters typically need to be cleaned inside and out to maintain good water flow and keep the typical white gutters from turning black. The black marks on the exterior of the gutters are from air pollution, tree dirt and roof runoff. The black marks are oxidized into the surface and can only be cleaned by hand with specific cleaners for the task because of oxidization layer has to be broken. The cleaners are strong, and ladders are needed to access the gutters. We do not recommend homeowners try to clean their own gutters.
Driveway and Sidewalks:
We offer a chemical low-pressure cleaning and high-pressure cleaning depending on the situation and state of the surface. Hot water is used in the cleaning.
Adding curb appeal has never been easier. If you are interested in any of our curb appeal tips, please contact us today!
Deck Restoration Saves Money
Deck restoration will help you to maintain the investment you’ve made in your home. Your deck is an outdoor extension of your house, providing you the space to both relax and entertain friends. A knowledgeable Deck Cleaning Professional can restore your decks beauty, while applying a protective finish, which will more than double the lifetime of an untreated deck.
Replacing your deck may cost as much as twenty-times the amount of restoring an existing serviceable deck, and the longer you put off having your deck restoration, the more damage weather can do. Mother nature works day and night, 365 days per year, to destroy your decks integrity. The sun’s UV rays break down the fiber in the wood, leaving your deck vulnerable to further degeneration, even as the damp underside of your deck provides a near-perfect environment for mold, mildew, and fungi to quickly spread. So why wait until your deck loses it’s natural color, or begins to decay and fall apart – when treating it promptly can eliminate these problems?
Hiring a licensed/insured Deck Cleaning Specialist, guarantees the best results in maintaining your deck’s appeal and safety for many years to come. Their careful use of pressure washing equipment, along with scrub brushes and hard work; should give your deck a clean, new look. Then by using a preservation product such as high-end penetrating stain, formulated with non-drying oils; your deck should hold up to the harshest weather. Reapplication every 2-3 years is necessary to maintain maximum protection and beauty.
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