We’ve cleaned thousands of homes over the years. Here are some useful spray tips to help keep a beautiful exterior!
Below is an ongoing compiled spray tips list of the most common things we see on customer homes.
1. Skip splurging on outdoor decor like fancy lights, ceiling fans, or door hardware. The Florida sun, rain, and humidity will turn them into dull relics quicker than you can say “beach day.”
2. Huge time saver spray tip! Want to know how to clean all your interior window panes in 15 to 20 minutes? Don’t waste hours of time spraying glass cleaner and using up an entire roll of paper towels when cleaning your windows. You are just going to leave streaks and smudges everywhere. Simply take a window squeegee and bucket of clean water with a micro fiber window scrubber to clean your interior (or exterior windows). Place an old bath towel along the window sill (interior side) to catch any water that drips down during the scrubbing or squeegee process. After using this method I guarantee you will never go back to spray glass cleaner and paper towels again!
3. Never plant palm trees close to your hardscapes, (ie., driveways, walkways, patios & pool decks). Palm seeds leave oil based stains! Oil stains rarely come out with pressure washing and degreasers as it is. If you have started to notice a few of these seed stains on your concrete we highly recommend moving it or else.
4. Water your grass not your pavers. Frequently check your irrigation spray heads to ensure they are pointed to spray in your yard and not onto your pavers. Excessive calcium build up is often concentrated to the lower apron of a paver driveway. When your paver joints get to this stage unfortunately it’s too late to successfully remove all the calcium carbonate that has built up. It does not take long for your pavers to start looking just like the ones in the image below. Learn more about Calcified Pavers
5. Rubber material mats often leave unsightly stains on concrete and painted concrete. Heat, moisture, combined with prolonged contact cause the rubber to leach into the surface.
6. Cut those shrubs back away from your exterior walls. Key points to remember:
For optimal health and to prevent damage to your home, it’s recommended to keep shrubs at least 2 -3 feet away from your exterior walls. Always plant shrubs based on their full grown size, not just how they look when initially planted.
Prevents Moisture issues: Keeping shrubs away from walls allows for proper air circulation and prevents excess moisture buildup which in Florida leads to excessive mold and mildew.
Root damage: Roots from large shrubs can damage foundation
walls if planted too close. Pest control: Spacing shrubs away from the house also helps to deter pests from easily accessing. Most importantly for us Floridians we have termites and for those of you who don’t knowtermites love moist conditions.
Pest control: Spacing shrubs away from the house also helps to deter pests from easily accessing. Most importantly for us Floridians we have termites and for those of you who don’t know
termites love moist conditions.
7. Gutter guards sound like the perfect solution—no more climbing ladders or hiring someone to scoop out leaves, sticks, and pine cones, right? Well, here’s the catch—if you don’t keep those guards clear, all that debris just piles up on top, turning into a compost heap that eventually oozes down your gutters, making them dirtier even faster! Before gutter guards, at least the mess stayed inside the gutters. Now, not only do you still have to clean them, but you also get the bonus task of scrubbing the gutter faces. So… remind me again, what was the point of these things?
8. I really dislike this weed. Prostate (Sandmat) Spurge weeds in-between my paver joints. This weed doesn’t care if your pavers are sealed or not. The tap root can grow down into a hole the diameter of a needle. Pesty plant hard to control? YES! Sexuality: Male and Female on the same plant. This weed will follow your sloping pavers from the top of your driveway down to the bottom. Be sure to check around the planter beds/potted plants at the top of your driveway especially if you have rain gutter downspouts that discharge at the top of your driveway on either side of your garage door opening.
9. When it’s time to sell your home, every detail counts. From the fresh mulch in the flowerbeds to the smell of clean air inside, potential buyers notice everything. One area often overlooked is the exterior. 1st impressions stick. Don’t skip these exterior cleaning tips.
- Softwash the siding.
- Roof cleaning to remove dark stains.
- Window cleaning for light and clarity (exterior window pane squeegee included w/ house wash)
- Clean Driveway, Curbs, Walkway, and Patios
- Screens & Vinyl Fencing cleaned of GREEN algae
Prepping your home for sale isn’t just about tidy countertops or a pristine fridge. Buyers notice everthing…except maybe your sock drawer. But your exterior? It’s the VIP guest of first impressions—make it shine before it steals the show for all the wrong reasons.
10. Safety touch up your white gutters with this awesome spray tip!
Rust-Oleum White Semi-Gloss Enamel
I can’t take full credit for this trick — I picked it up somewhere along the way, Regardless, it’s too good not to share. This tip is worth jotting down and keeping handy: I’ve used this paint on both old and new gutters, and whatever magic is in that mix, it’s a perfect match every time.
Sound Advice: Cleaning of the exterior faces of gutters and downspouts is included in our standard house wash service. Florida algae doesn’t count as primer.
11. Don’t paint your driveway!
Are you going to repaint your driveway every 5 years with a maintenance coat by hiring a pro painter? Highly unlikely. Are you going to D.I.Y reapply maintenance coats to your driveway every 2 years? Highly unlikely.
Painting your driveway to affordably boost curb appeal so that you can sell will hurt the overall aesthetic of the home and eventually the neighborhood. I have cleaned hundreds of painted concrete driveways and have never seen one that doesn’t end up looking identical to the picture below.
12. Paver Patches and Paver Additions
These photos always resurface in my memories, and just to be clear—no Karen energy here. We’ve all had a “this will look great” idea that… looked better in our heads.
This little spray tip is for anyone thinking about patching or extending existing paver hardscapes. The main thing to know? If you’re trying to blend old pavers with new. They never match. Ever.
And if you’re thinking, “Yeah but once I get them cleaned and sealed, they’ll totally blend!”
No.
They won’t. 🙂
13. Potted Plants on Pavers
Just about every paver sealing customer has heard my thoughts on potted plants sitting directly on pavers. Most of the staining left underneath pots doesn’t come from the water it comes from potting soil and the fertilizers mixed into it. The water simply acts as the delivery system, pulling those stains out of the soil and draining them straight onto your pavers.
About half the time, those stains clean up just fine. The other half? They get sealed in permanently… which is not the kind of “long-term protection” anyone wants.
If you absolutely must have potted plants on your pavers, do yourself a favor and use drip trays. There are some great ones out there with threaded drain holes that let you plumb a line and send that runoff somewhere it won’t ruin your hardscape.
14. Shell Stone Pavers: Important Factors to Consider
Without naming specific manufacturers or installers, caution is advised when selecting a contractor for the increasingly popular shell stone style pavers commonly used on back patios and pool decks. Based on the volume of online complaints, as well as feedback from several of our own customers who currently have these pavers installed, this is a product we would personally approach with hesitation. The staining shown in the images below is originating from the paver base or bedding material beneath the surface, migrating upward through the stone. Even if you are successful in removing these stains they are just going to come right back unless the unsuitable base or bedding materials are removed and replaced with compatible bedding.
Sometimes the stains wont show up until after they have been sealed. Shell stone pavers clean up nicely but, due to the fact there are dedicated ongoing bash posts on the shell stone pavers I’ve always declined sealing them because it’s not worth the headache. The image below is from a customer that had their shell stone pavers professionally sealed (by others) only to find these brown rusty spots emerge shortly after. Other customers that had their shell stone sealed (by others) ended up having the sealer removed (stripped off) due to non-uniformity of color.
15. Hose Bib Protection for winter Freeze.
Tired or wrapping your exterior spigots during a hard freeze? These devices come in packs of 3 for less than $15.00. Type in “Hose Bibb Protection” in your search bar. Note: This product will not work on spigots installed within decorative stone work, or brick so make sure you check your spigots surroundings before purchasing.
