While most of us focus on cleaning and maintaining the interiors of our house, we tend to neglect the exteriors, but what one needs to remember here is that ‘first impression is the last impression’. If you have jaw-dropping interiors, but the exteriors of your house look deplorable, you will never make a positive impression in your circles.
Keeping the importance of good exteriors in mind, Gharpedia shares some outside house cleaning tips to keep the external spaces of your home in shipshape.
Amazing Exterior House Cleaning Tips for Your Home
We often give more time and thought to our house’s interiors, and we underestimate the exteriors. But to set anyone’s mood, it is more crucial that the exterior looks and feels cleaner and comfier like the interiors.
Here, we share wondrous exterior house cleaning tips to make your great outdoors more inviting as well as safer in cold weather and more pleasant in warm weather.
- De-icing the Sidewalk, Steps, Driveway and Patio
- Safer Concrete Steps
- Snow Shoveling Made Easier
- Removing Moss
- Removing Stains on Concrete
- Removing Storm Windows and Doors
- Unlocking Door Locks
- Unsticking Outdoor Bulbs
- Cleaning a Plastic Kiddie Pool
- Cleaning a Swimming Pool
- Cleaning Plastic Patio Furniture
- Using an Outdoor Grill
- Handling a Garbage Can
Take a detailed look,
01. De-icing the Sidewalk, Steps, Driveway and Patio
If the sidewalk, stairs or patio that needs de-icing is near your garden, do not use rock salt, the salt will leach into the soil and poison it. Instead, use natural clay kitty litter, sand or granular fertilizer (dry, tiny pellets that are natural or synthetic – available at garden supply stores).
Distribute a dusting of baking soda, it will melt the ice and help prevent slipping. You don’t have to worry about it eating away at the outdoor ground covering, or the soles of your shoes (and in case it gets tracked into the house, it may even help clean the floor).
When your wooden deck is iced over, get out the cornmeal. A sprinkling of it will provide traction without damaging the wood or harming your garden. So, aren’t these external house cleaning tricks easy-peasy?
02. Safer Concrete Steps
Mix half a cup of clean sand into a can of paint, and paint the concrete steps with it. The sand in the paint will offer some traction when the steps are icy or wet. The colourful steps look great and undoubtedly enhance the beauty of your house. But if you paint them white, they are easier to see on dark nights, especially if your outside light burns out.
03. Snow Shovelling Made Easier
Right now, no matter what the weather is in your part of the country, put a coat of floor wax on your snow shovel. It will help prevent a metal shovel from rusting, and when the time comes to use it, the snow will glide on and slide off smoothly and make your outdoor house cleaning easier.
If you’ve got neglected to do the floor-wax coating and you have to use the shovel now, spray it with non-stick vegetable spray. Once it dries completely, get out there and start shovelling.
Not only snow shovel, but you have to clean and take care of all the house cleaning tools. So they can work correctly in your next cleaning session.
04. Removing Moss
If you have a brick or stone walkway and are tired of moss overgrowth on it. Then you are in the right place; we have a very easy remedy for removing moss. You will surely love it, as this remedy should get rid of any moss overgrowth. Combine two tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and one pint of water in a spray bottle. Spray the moss with the solution and then rinse it away with a hose.
05. Removing Stains on Concrete
If any of the concrete on your property has grease stains, drench it with liquid dishwashing detergent. Let it stay that way for about one hour. Then pour hot water on it. If the stain isn’t completely gone (and probably won’t be), repeat the process once or twice more. It’s the best trick for removing stain on the concrete.
06. Removing Storm Windows and Doors
Spray metal window and door frames with non-stick vegetable spray to make this putting-up and taking-down seasonal chore much less of a ‘pain’!
07. Unlocking Door Locks
If your key doesn’t go in and out of the lock smoothly, any of the following should help –
- Spray the key with non-stick vegetable spray and before it dries, insert it into the keyhole a few times
- Dip a powder puff or a cotton ball in talcum powder and smack it on the keyhole. The idea is to have a bit of powder coat the inside of the keyhole
- Rub the serrated side and the underside of a key using a soft lead pencil (it’s not actually lead, its graphite). Then transfer the pencil’s graphite from the key into the keyhole by putting the key in the lock and moving it back-and-forth until the key comes out clean.
08. Unsticking Outdoor Bulbs
Moisture, pollen, dust, dirt and pollution can all conspire to make it practically impossible to remove an outdoor light bulb from the socket shell. If you lightly coat the threaded base of the bulb with petroleum jelly before you screw it on when the time comes to remove and replace the bulb, off-screwing it will not be a problem.
09. Cleaning a Plastic Kiddie Pool
Dissolve four cups of baking soda in two gallons of hot water. When the water is still warm (but not hot enough to melt plastic) pour the solution into the plastic pool. Swish it around with a clean sponge, then pour out the solution and rinse the kiddie pool with clear water.
10. Cleaning a Swimming Pool
Cleaning a swimming pool is now a very easy task. You only have to keep a tennis ball floating in the water, and you’ll get a cleaner pool. The ball ‘serves’ to absorb body oils … now, don’t you just ‘love’ that! Doesn’t keep the pool clean easy??? But, wait… much more dirt is there in the swimming pool than the body oil. Therefore we share A Guideline to Maintain and Clean Your Swimming Pool. It makes your cleaning work easy and smooth.
11. Cleaning Plastic Patio Furniture
Here are some very very easy tips for cleaning plastic patio furniture, surely you will like to follow them.
- Spray the plastic furniture with foam shaving cream and let it stay that way for five minutes. Use a soft brush or a coarse sponge to wipe the dirt away and then hose it down.
- After wiping the dust and dirt off plastic, wood or metal furniture frames – not chair seats or any other parts that come in contact with people’s skin – buff the frames with liquid car wax. It will protect your furniture from pollution, bird droppings and any other substance that may cause erosion.
- Protect and clean your white resin patio furniture when there’s a big storm brewing by placing the furniture in the swimming pool to ensure that it doesn’t get blown away. When the storm is over and you take out the furniture, each piece will be sparkling clean, thanks to the chlorine in the water.
- How can you overlook the patio umbrella? So, the next time you’re at the auto-supply store buying liquid car wax, pick up some cleaner for a convertible car top. It will go a long way in cleaning and giving your sun-beaten patio umbrella a revitalized look.
So, cleaning plastic patio furniture sounds easy, Right? Like this, we also have some easy tricks to clean your living room furniture. Do you want to know?? Then click on the below link-
12. Using an Outdoor Grill
- Before you fire up the grill, lightly coat the racks with vegetable oil or a non-stick spray. Meats and vegetables will slide off easily.
- Toss some fresh herbs on the coals – rosemary, basil, sage or a few bay leaves work well. As the coal gets hotter the scent of the herbs will subtly flavour the food. The herbs will also permeate the air with the promise of good eats.
- When you’re finished with barbecuing and the grill is still warm, sprinkle baking soda on it and let it stay that way overnight. The next morning wipe it clean and then rinse and dry it.
13. Handling a Garbage Can
- Sprinkle about a half cup of borax powder (available at supermarkets and drugstores) on the bottom of the garbage can to help prevent mould from growing.
- If you have a severe fly problem around your garbage can, line the bottom of the can with a light coating of powdered dishwasher detergent. The smell of the soap will repel the flies and when you want to clean out the can just add water and rinse it off.
- To keep the flies away, dip a sponge in oil of lavender (available at health food stores) and wipe the inside of the can and lid with it. Do this after every garbage pick-up
- If neighbourhood dogs or cats insist on dining out at your garbage can, sprinkle black pepper around the can. They should stop coming over for take-out.
Important Points
- If your outside house cleaning chore has you mounting a ladder on soft earth, make it safer by putting each leg of the ladder in an empty coffee can, which will help stabilize the ladder making it safer. If possible, have someone hold the sides of the ladder steady while you climb up. And knowing all the house cleaning safety tips before starting any cleaning task proves the best practice for you.
- Buy an old skateboard from a teenage neighbour and use it to cart around heavy or awkward things such as moving your full garbage can to the curb or relocating big potted plants. Ensure that the skateboard is stable before you move anything, especially on an incline.
- Keep antibacterial wipes close by to clean your hands after handling raw meat.
- You can prevent the lid of the garbage can from flying away on a windy day – just get some rope or wire and tie the lid to the garbage can handle.
We hope these exterior house cleaning tips will help you keep your outer space clean, safe, and inviting. And also, they will reduce your seasonal maintenance chore. But remember, call an exterior cleaning professional when you feel these cleaning chores are tricky and you’re not able to do them. They make your task easy and hassle-free.
Along with these exterior house cleaning tips, we also have some other fantastic house cleaning tips that you will love to go through it. So, click on the below link, know those tips and make your cleaning chore easy-peasy…
7 Savvy House Cleaning Tips You Wish you’d have Known Sooner
15 House Cleaning Tips that can be Beneficial to Every Homeowner!
Image Courtesy – Image 03
Author Bio
Huta Raval – An English Literature and Journalism Topper, Huta Raval has graduated from the L D Arts College, Ahmedabad. Post serving for 23 years in the NBFC and Public Library Sectors her desire for ‘writing the unwritten’ brought her to the creative field of content writing. Her clientele comprises of NGOs, Blogging Platforms, Newspapers, Academic Institutions, et al.