My guess is that if you are a homeowner and you don’t enjoy your first day outdoors for the year then it was probably because you didn’t do a few things before it got cold.

1. Disconnect all your water hoses from there spouts. If you are from where I am from this will be the hosepipe. If your from Georgia the this would be the whatahose. A Yankee may call it a number of things. Anyway, if you leave your hosepipe or any other non continuous flowing water connections hooked up over winter then you are asking for trouble. I can list ten crappy things that can happen but I am a terrible typer so I am going to just go with a couple and you will have to trust me ,(it takes literally 20 seconds to unhook, if it takes longer than you probably need to work on it anyway.)

A. If water is left in the hose, the water will expand when it freezes and bust your hosepipe,whatahose, or plain old water hose.B. If there is water ran up to the hose connection with a hose connected it will freeze and bust the valve itself. Take the time and put your hater hoses up so they will be ready is the spring when you need it

2. Do you need your weed eater in the winter? What do my friends up North call a weed eater, a weed whacker? You might use it once or twice but for the most part it needs to be prepped for the winter. For all your equipment you use around the house you don’t want to just put them up  after your last use and let them sit around through many below freezing nights in the garage or barn. If you do this you can almost bet that you will spend some time getting them fired up for spring.Unless you are a small engine mechanic than I won’t go in to the why’s but fuel freezes, hoses crack,etc. For the most part it is pretty obvious when your last cutting or trimming job will be. At that point run these engines out of fuel for the winter. I will never fill my equipment more than half way after Sept 1. Most engines have a gas shut off as well. If you chose to leave fuel in the tanks at least turn your gas switch off until it quits running to keep fuel from setting up in the carb. Go ahead and get all your blades sharp, grease bearings, make sure weed eater line is good and clean everything up as good as you can. You will be surprised how many leaks or cracks you can spot just from something setting up for several months clean. A good trick for leaks is to put all your engine stuff on something clean and absorbent so if it does have a leak you will know it is fresh and you won’t have such a mess. I maybe crazy or odd but I like to spend that first day of spring doing what I want to do rather than solving problems, that’s what I do at work all day long.

3.Do everything you can think of to prepare yourself for the first day of spring before it gets cold because you are not going to want to mess with it when spring rolls around. Here are a few more things that I do for ALG Contracting and for Amy’s house where I live.

1.0 It’s been a long summer and things have gotten out of hand in the garage or barn, Organize and clean it, make yourself a nice place to hang if you wanted to just do a project over the winter.

2.0 Does your grill or outdoor furniture have to sit out all winter? I don’t know ask yourself that. if you can move it in great ,if you can’t, try to get it out of the weather as much as possible. Rust is the worst thing ever to get off concrete.

3.0 Batteries don’t like the cold, so if you can, put all your small batteries in a closet in the house and for your big batteries(boats,mowers, etc) charge them real good and then get them in a big cardboard box or cover them the best you can. Go out and charge them at least once over the winter.

4.0 Walk the perimeter of your home and clean off all the debris that has collected on your exterior due to the lawnmower, weed eater etc., If you blow or spray all this off before winter it won’t stain your exterior.

5.0 Take all your unused pots(trees and plants) and doormats  up because we don’t spray things off   in the winter and if you leave these type if things sitting out all winter it is going to be damaging to whatever they are sitting on(concrete ,wood, asphalt etc., I know you have lifted up an old door mat before and said “good grief”.

Ge my number off the website www.algclean.com and let’s talk about winterizing some more.

The only problem with the Leaves turning a thousand different colors is it means they are on their way out for the season and many of them are heading right for your gutters. There is a trade-off for all that beauty believe me I have witnessed first hand the damage leaves can cause.

1. Clogged gutters are the number 1 reason for foundation damage to homes or buildings. Gutters were invented to direct water away from the foundation for a reason (Erosion, freezing, expansion etc.) If you gutters are clogged the water has nowhere to go but over the side, right to your foundation. Not to mention washing away all your time and money you spend for landscaping.

2. Roof leaks. When water is backed up in your gutters it keeps the first row of shingles wet and causes them to decay and fail. Failing shingles lead to leaks.

3. Gutters pulling away from the house. Gutters are made to carry water in a well-balanced way out and away from your home not to hold tens and even hundreds of pounds of debris year around. No telling how many times while out there cleaning Roofs have I seen gutters pulled away from the house not only causing damage to under hang of the home but damage to the gutter itself. Many times we can clean the gutters out relieving the  weight and re nail the gutters back on, but many times not, it requires a gutter professional to come out and make new holes, install new nails, so on and so on . Not cheap.

Bottom Line friends, No matter how bad you hate it , keep your gutters clean! I just listed three reasons here but there are many more to do it twice a year at least.Trust me on this one, it may not seem like a big deal but it is. Check back later I will have posted the best methods for gutter cleaning and most importantly the safest ways. Got to run for now! For more helpful hints check us out on www.algclean.com

how to clean a deck

Nice article on non-pressure deck cleaning originally from AskTheBuilder.com. AlgClean.com uses similarly professional methods for deck cleaning in Kentucky and Tennessee. And for the do-it-yourselfer, they can also supply you with everything you need to do the job yourself. We ship anywhere!

Dear Deck Cleaning Expert:

My wood deck needs to be cleaned and sealed. Actually, I have two wood decks; one is made from traditional treated lumber and the other one is cedar. Several contractors want to pressure wash the decks, but I am leery of this. In your opinion, what is the best way to clean a wood deck? Once clean, what is the best sealer? Is there a sealer that will really work well on cedar?

Patricia R., Farmington Hills, MI

Dear Patricia:

Wood decks, like anything else left outdoors, get dirty and covered with algae and sometimes mildew. Several years ago, I had this happen to a car that sat in my driveway for months, as I was too busy to sell it. Who would think algae and mildew would grow on a painted steel car? Cleaning your wood decks will require a little extra work, if you want to treat them with care.

I do own a pressure washer, but I never use it to clean wood surfaces. High-pressure streams of water wreak havoc on sun-damaged wood decks. The ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun break down sealers, and then they start to blast apart the actual wood fibers of the decking. These weakened fibers are easily removed by pressure washers.

The light-colored wood grain is the wood most susceptible to damage from the pressure washers. This is the spring wood or tree growth that happens between the end of winter and the beginning of summer. Trees grow rapidly at this time, as there is often an abundance of water from spring rains. This rapid growth creates an open cellular structure in the wood that is quite weak in some respects. As summer wears on, and there is less moisture in the soil for the tree, the growth process slows. This summer wood is darker, and is very dense. As you might expect, this dark summer wood grain is more resistant to damage from both UV rays and high-pressure streams of water.

I prefer to use a solution of oxygen bleach to clean outdoor wood surfaces. Do not confuse oxygen bleach with bottles of liquid bleach you find in grocery stores or home centers. These often contain chlorine bleach. Always check the label. If you see the words sodium hypochlorite on a product label, you are looking at a bottle of chlorine bleach.

Oxygen bleach is a powder that is mixed with water. Not all oxygen bleaches are the same. Some have low-quality ingredients that are manufactured offshore. Some have low amounts of active ingredient in them. The best oxygen bleaches have ingredients that are made in the USA, and have the highest amount of active ingredient as allowed by law. As you might expect, these products are typically higher-priced. High-quality ingredients and more of them simply cost more.

Once you mix the oxygen bleach with water, it creates a solution with billions of oxygen ions. These powerhouse ions are non-toxic, and they rapidly clean algae, mildew and oxidized deck sealers. The oxygen-bleach solution does not hurt plants or trees, and it does not hurt the natural color of the wood. Chlorine bleach, on the other hand, is highly toxic to plants and vegetation. It also is such a strong oxidizer, it can and does remove the natural color from the wood. The chlorine bleach can also accelerate the corrosion of deck nails, bolts and framing connectors.

I have had great luck with new synthetic-resin sealers that have an epoxy component. These epoxy deck sealers are UV-stable, and last for years on the flat surfaces of decks. But cedar has always been a problem in the past. The dense summer wood of cedar has often prevented sealers from penetrating into the wood. It was not uncommon for the sealers to peel off of cedar decking.

A new water-based epoxy sealer with a brand-new synthetic resin has been developed for cedar decks. This resin has a smaller molecular structure that can penetrate the dense summer wood on cedar decks. The field tests I have seen are impressive, and I would absolutely give this new sealer a try on your cedar decking. To purchase this sealer, look on the label for the words “water-based” and “epoxy”.

Each year, I receive countless e-mails from people who ruin their wood decks with pressure washers. After the cleaning process, the wood decking dries and the people are left with wood that looks like a fuzzy pipe cleaner. Some areas of the wood are so damaged by the pressure washers, they resemble fishing piers that have been exposed to the sun for decades.

If this happens to you, your only choice is to let the wood dry well, and rent power-sanding machines. Be sure to countersink all nails, and then start to sand the wood using coarse sandpaper, and then medium. Always use aluminum oxide sandpaper, as it is self-sharpening. Remove all dust before you apply the sealer. Read the sealer label carefully. The epoxy resin sealers need to be applied very thin, and they always need two coats, with a small amount of drying time between each coat.

First, Things You’ll Need:

• Ladder
• Shoes with good traction
• Garden hose long enough to reach all parts of your roof
• Soft bristle broom
• Tri-sodium based cleanser
• Plastic to cover nearby trees and shrubs

Instructions:

1. Clean the roof surface with a soft bristled broom to remove loose dirt and larger debris that may clog your gutters are damage the roof while washing.

2. Wet the roof surface with a garden hose and allow the roof to soak for at least five minutes. This will loosen dried dirt and make cleaning easier.

3. Sweep the roof again with a soft bristled broom.

4. Rinse the swept area of the roof in order to decide if cleaning with water is sufficient. If the roof is still dirty, re-wet the surface and allow it to soak for another five minutes.

5. Apply a small amount of tri-sodium based cleanser to the roof while soaking. Be sure to cover any plants or shrubbery surrounding the house with a sheet of plastic to protect then from the soap.

6. Scrub the roof again gently with a soft bristled broom.

7. Rinse the roof well with clean water before the soap has a chance to dry.

Of course, if you would rather not do the work yourself, you can hire a good roof cleaning company to do this for you. Either way, the folks at ALGclean.com can either do the work for you, or supply you with the products you need to do it yourself (online store coming soon!).

(Images courtesy of Roof Cleaning Tampa Bay Florida).