Your home’s value depends a lot on how it looks from the outside. But if you’re looking to spruce up your home’s exterior, you’re going to need a whole lot more than a few cans of paint for the job. If you want to keep your home looking pristine and don’t want to end up having to replace your siding after just a few years, there are a few things you can do to prevent damage to your home, especially after a hard winter or a storm. If you’ve checked out Raleigh’s source for James Hardie siding and brought home a durable, beautiful-looking siding for your home, there’s no point in failing to take good care of it. If you want your siding to look great for years, here’s what you should do.
Clean, Clean, Clean
The first step to a pristine home siding is regularly scheduled maintenance. Rather than waiting until your siding is caked with mud and scratched from contact with branches and flying debris, take the time to thoroughly clean your siding every two weeks, even when the weather is good. If you wait until after a storm to clean or assume that cleaning at any point during the winter is foolish, you’ll just be allowing dirt and mildew to build up on your siding, making it that much harder to truly clean in the long run. Instead of waiting until it gets too crazy and caked with dirt, try to make a habit of inspecting your siding for cracks, cleaning areas that look dirty, and in general being aware of how your siding is holding up in harsh weather.
Pressure Wash
Attention to detail is always a good idea, especially if your siding is made of a delicate material like glass. However, if you’re using a more rough-and-ready material like brick or vinyl, you can afford to bring out the big guns. Whether you hire experienced pressure washers to blast the side of your home regularly or decide to do it yourself, pressure-washing can be a great, easy way to make sure your home siding stays healthy and free of buildup. However, if you don’t know what you’re doing, this exercise can be dangerous both for you and your home. If you’re not familiar with pressure washing, trust the experts before you attempt it yourself. Pressure washing entails high-powered streams of water going at high speeds. This means that if you’re not careful, you could end up harming your siding by doing it the wrong way. Always make sure you hire someone who’s experienced and knows what they’re doing before you commit to pressure washing.
Don’t Ignore the Bottom Area
While cleaning up your siding, make sure to take a look at the part of your home exterior that interacts with the ground. If you have flowerbeds planted or weeds growing, it might seem innocent enough. But contact with weeds and scratchy branches could actually end up harming your siding if you don’t keep an eye on it. If there’s any growth that you’re not keeping track of or actively trimming down, you’ll want to make sure it doesn’t end up causing scratches or dirt buildup on your siding. Make sure things are as clear as they can be so that you can easily access this area for regular cleaning. If you can, use the springtime to clean up this area. You can plant new flowerbeds, remove dead plants, and do some de-weeding to help the area thrive. Remember, just because it’s an area that doesn’t get a lot of eyes on it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t look its best at all times.
Beware of Scratches, Check for Breaks
If your siding is made of more sensitive material, you’ll want to be extra vigilant about checking for small cracks and scratches. If you have a vinyl siding, you won’t have to worry as much about breakage. However, after a serious storm, it’s possible that even a strong, durable material like vinyl or fiber cement could end up seeing the worst of it. That’s why it’s important to do a visual check before and after bad weather hits. That way, you’ll be able to spot problems as they happen rather than waiting for them to become unmanageable. Don’t assume that just because your home siding is strong that it’s totally invulnerable to elemental decay and destruction. It’s up to you to make sure your siding stays clean, protected, and invincible, especially after a spot of bad weather.
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