Any homeowner in New Jersey can confess that it’s great living here.
However, despite the many things to love about this region, the area has a very unique climate, which possesses the potential to wreak havoc to your home’s exterior.
This deterioration of property, especially surfaces takes place courtesy of different elements such as sand, moisture, and salt water. Now, imagine adding winter salt to these other compounds, especially during winter.
Things can end up getting messy, right?
Over time, these elements can accumulate in your home’s exterior, leading to grime buildup, unsightly stains, and even structural damage.
Power Washing Your Walkways
Since you don’t want to experience such challenges, it makes sense to give your home a nice power washing, especially during spring when the weather is much better.
This article gives a spring power washing guide that you can implement to prevent winter salt damage and also improve your home’s curb appeal.
The Threat of Winter Salt Damage
Winter salt is very useful because it helps with de-icing. However, this compound can have negative effects when exposed to surfaces.
One such problem is cracking and pitting, where it can cause concrete driveways to develop cracks, which can end up expanding over time. Once the expansion continues over a period of time, it has the potential to cause key structural issues on your property. Winter salt can also cause staining. This is a commonality when the salt residue is left to sit on surfaces for too long. Another potential issue is corrosion. This can appear on metal components such as railings and fences.
Spring Power Washing Guide
Since you don’t want to experience the aforementioned problems, it makes sense to do power washing. This part of the article gives an in-depth guide on how to go about this.
Gather Everything You Need
The first thing to do here is to get the power washer. Be sure to get the right equipment for the specific surface you’ll be washing. You also need to be aware of the settings. This will help you not to end up damaging your surfaces. For instance, if you are working with a surface made of wood, use a lower setting. If you are working with concrete, a higher setting should do.
Apart from the machine, you will need to gather cleaning solutions. When you go to get these, ensure that you get environmentally safe and biodegradable detergents, which are specifically made to remove salt and grime.
Focus on Vulnerable Areas
There are certain areas prone to winter salt damage such as decks, driveways, walkways, patios, and siding. As you do the power washing, it’s important that you focus on these areas so you can remove the salt entirely.
The reason for prioritizing certain places is that the salt tends to accumulate on some areas like driveways and walkways the most. When this happens, it causes staining and surface degradation. As for siding and exterior walls, salt-laden winds can coat exterior walls. This can cause corrosion and discoloration. Another surface is decks and patios, especially wooden and composite ones, which absorb salt and moisture. This makes them prone to mold and rot.
Use the Right Technique Based on the Surface
It’s important to be aware of the surface you are working on to help ensure you use the right technique. This is very important because you don’t want to cause damage to your surfaces, while trying to prevent winter salt destruction.
For concrete and brick, you might want to use a rotating surface cleaner attachment to help achieve even results. For vinyl and wood, consider washing from top to bottom to help minimize water infiltration. You might also consider less excessive pressure to prevent damage. If you are working on the roof and gutters, then consider implementing a soft-wash method to help remove the debris without causing significant damage.
Winter is notorious for messing up homes, courtesy of different elements like ice, snow, road salt, ice melt products, and oceanic salt spray. Some parts of your home likely to get really messed up include the driveway, walkway, decks, gutters, and siding. When exposed to winter salt, these parts will not only look bad but may also get damaged.
To prevent this from happening, consider doing power washing, especially during spring once the weather has cleared up. Taking this action will go a long way in protecting your home against winter salt damage, which can be quite costly to fix.
However, you might have noticed that power washing can be quite overwhelming, especially if you don’t have the experience. This is why you might want to hire professional power washing services to help you out.
