It’s been a long cold winter here in Seattle. Lot’s of snow has the streets covered with sand. Dust will be a major factor this year.
Usually our company A Spring Cleaning would be lining up work for home owners preparing for the Spring Home Selling Season, but the phone is silent. My thought is that every one is waiting to see what change a new president brings.
In the mean time let me share with you what we would typically do at this time of the year. First we would bleach a house. We have a large orchard sprayer, but a hand held sprayer can work or even a bucket and roller. We mix a bleach with water and a little, very little, detergent to spray onto a house, patio, deck, or any place there maybe moss or mildew. You can add a commercial mildew killer if you like.
We mix between 25% to 50% bleach to water with maybe a quarter cup of detergent. I like the orange cleaning solution myself. It smells good and has a great wetting agent. We spray down the whole house on a cold winter day without rain. We let it sit for at least thirty minutes or reapply. I usually go around a house twice and it takes me about an hour. Some times I leave it over night depending on the plant life around the house. Then I rinse.
Some people pressure wash after bleaching. This is a good time to do that. The basis of pressure washing is the gallons per minute. Some people think it’s the pounds per square inch of pressure, but gallons per minute is what get the job done. In terms of the bleaching you can just leave it. It will turn to salt water. I rinse to keep the soil around the house diluted. I also just use a spray nozzle to get some crud off the house and “sweep” the patio or deck.
This is the time to get some clean up done, like old weeding, or pick up around the house. January is best for this or after your snow season ends. It’s to early for pruning, but dead stuff can be removed. This also means around the exterior of the house so you can get to the windows and siding. Without leaves on the trees or bushes in a dormant state it’s easier to get in close to the house for cleaning siding. You should do the whole house and get all the nooks and crannies.
The plant life being less impacted is one reason to do this now and the second is that moss and mildew are in a weakened state. The cold has these spores hunkered down for the winter. In the Spring the more you kill or remove today means less that will “blossum” in the Spring.
Terrific blog, many interesting details. I recall four of days ago, I have viewed a similar blog. Does someone know how to track future posts?