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Why Exterior Maintenance Solutions Matter
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| Apr 07, 2021 |
Whether you’re running a business or simply maintaining your own home, curb appeal can have a big impact on anyone who comes to visit. Regardless of how your home or storefront looks like on the inside, if the exterior is lacking, people will have their own preconceived notions before they ever step through that door. This is why exterior maintenance is imperative in managing your building or home.
You may put aside the weekends to trim the hedges or cut the grass. You may hire a maintenance crew to come by periodically to keep up. Either way, you’re going to need to take bigger and broader steps to ensure your exterior maintenance solutions stand the test of time & preserve your building’s value.
Exteriors are exposed to the elements, varying temperatures, and typical wear & tear. To ensure your building’s exterior design makes an impression well after its creation, you’ll need comprehensive exterior property maintenance.
We’ve put together our top tips on how to stay on top of your building’s overall appearance. The more frequent your maintenance, the higher the chance your building will stand the test of time.
What Do We Mean By Maintenance?
There’s more to exterior property maintenance than first comes to mind. From grounds management to pest control & curb appeal, several maintenance requirements fall under the umbrella of exterior property maintenance.
For example, pathways and walkways need to be maintained and may occasionally require replacement. Foundations crack and buckle over time and need frequent minor repairs to ward off major catastrophic failures down the road.
Regulations and laws change. Maintenance will help you keep up with the times and avoid costly fees.
All of these things matter. While you may not want to cover the overhead cost and time involved in maintenance, it may end up paying for itself in the long run.
Routine Cleanup
Exterior maintenance solutions stack together and build up; which means that slacking on day-to-day cleanup may mean more work and heartache during seasonal cleanup. The same goes for long-term and annual maintenance, which is precisely why you need to keep up with these best practices:
- Maintain air quality by checking in on external vents and replacing filters as often as listed. This is typically between one to six months.
- Furnace filters, indoors and out, need to be cleaned out to reduce utility bills and remove the build-up of dust.
- Test alarm systems across the board, including security system alarms and ground-fault circuit interrupters. Use a damp washcloth to clean off lenses on security cameras.
- Clean pathways, patios, and other similar areas to maintain curb appeal and reduce the growth of invasive species. Siding, such as vinyl, also benefits from power washing—particularly after large storms that dump lots of dirt and debris onto a home.
Seasonal Change
Your seasonal cleanup needs are going to be different based upon the exterior surface you’re working with and the local climate. In many cases, routine cleanup and seasonal change will revolve around the same best practices:
- Have qualified tradesmen clean rendered walls and check them for possible problems with their structural build. While inspectors note that rendered walls can last decades, imperfections can affect the appeal of your walls—and dirt can seriously harm your curb appeal.
- Clean gutters and drains in Autumn before Winter to avoid damage caused by freezing or thawing ice. Leaves need to be removed in between roof pitches. You can check for loose slates while doing so. This should optimally be done twice per year, but this will vary depending upon your location and the number of trees in the area.
Alongside groundwork, exterior property maintenance techniques such as these will help you preserve the integrity of your buildings with the changing seasons.
The Long Term
Finally, long-term maintenance often involves maintaining the integrity of the foundation, walls, and roof. However, these best practices may also occur more than once a year:
- Utilize any leftover bricks to repair breaking or chipping bricks in the walls. Repointing bricks (that is, removing a brick and replacing with fresh mortar) may be necessary in some cases. Ordering new bricks may also be necessary—but more often than not, you’ll need to seek out experts to color match new bricks to pre-existing ones.
- Cut down aging trees near your property. While it may not strike you as exterior maintenance initially, as trees age and decay, they pose a threat to your property and need to be safely removed by professionals. Failure to do so may result in naturally falling trees and severe damage to your property.
- Foundational repair needs to be conducted every several years. Small repairs to foundations as they crack and falter will reduce the need for a total replacement or building condemnation over the long term.
- Exterior surfaces may crack or have their color fade right out of them. This is especially true with surfaces painted with silicon paints.
Reducing The Need For Property Preservation
Exterior property maintenance is crucial—but if you’d like to cut down on the time you spend cleaning and clearing, there are a few things you can do.
Vertical masonry and concrete surfaces and exteriors can be stained instead of painted. Nawkaw offers exterior concrete coating products that stand the test of time and require far less maintenance than any standard paint will.
Our stains allow buildings to retain their natural breathability—which prevents cracking, spalling, and delamination of the building’s surface. In short? These exterior masonry and concrete staining products will significantly decrease your need for exterior property maintenance.
While other coatings require periodic touchups to cover cracks, scratches, and chipping, stains will keep your exteriors looking brand-new for years to come.
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