Home Cleaning: How To Keep Your Outdoor Areas Neat

Some people feel very proud of the state of their house, especially if they put in substantial effort to keep their home clean. However, the outdoor areas may be harder to tidy up, especially if you have a lot of trees and plants shedding leaves every day. Don’t fret – it is possible to keep your outdoor areas as neat as possible without expending too much time and effort.

Here are some tips that may make outdoor home cleaning easier.

Look For Machines To Help You

If there are always a lot of leaves falling on your lawn from nearby plants and trees, you might be interested in buying yourself a combination vacuum and blower. This machine will make it easier to blow away leaves into a pile, so that you can quickly rake them into your compost bin. This machine can also suck in leaves and other small debris like tiny twigs so that you won’t have to spend a lot of time raking them up. For an idea of which combination vacuum and blower machines are the best, you may consult the Clean Home Guide.

A powerwash machine is a good idea too, especially for those walkways and flooring that do get exposed to the outdoors such as your patio. The powerwash jet stream of water can be just the thing to rid your outdoor areas of dirt, mold, mildew and moss. The great thing about a powerwash machine is that it mostly does away with the need to apply laundry detergent sheet and harmful chemicals just to keep your flooring and walkways clean. You may even use the powerwash machine to hose down your house sidings which can be difficult to reach and scrub by yourself.

Get A Stiff Broom To Sweep Up Debris

Even if you have been able to control the leaves problem on your lawn, you probably have plants and trees in your outdoor hard-surface areas that need to be managed as well. You can trim off excess branches so that the plants and trees don’t look overgrown. The leaves that fall on those hard surfaces can be swept up using a broom with stiff bristles and put in garbage bags. You may also use the stiff broom to remove pet hair and other organic debris from the outdoor drains.

Maintain Wooden Outdoor Furniture In Good Condition

If you have wooden furniture in your outdoor areas, it’s best to keep it under some kind of waterproof protection such as an overhang of your patio. That way it won’t get wet or eventually rot, thus making sure that it remains presentable and looks neat. If storms seem to arrive often in your location, it may be best to get tarpaulin and cover the wooden furniture every time a storm is brewing. This will save your furniture from too much moisture brought in by strong winds. As for your furniture cushions, it is best to keep them in storage when they are not needed.

Clean Your Driveway Too

The driveway often gets relegated to the sidelines during home cleaning, probably because the house itself is the priority. But the driveway has to be cleaned too since there is a lot of stuff that can make your driveway look cluttered and untidy. You may use regular laundry detergent for this, mixed with clean water in a bucket. You will need to use a brush with a long handle to scrub away oil stains and dirt on the surface. You can then use your power wash machine to force away these pollutants straight into the sewer drain. If you don’t have a power wash machine, you can still use an ordinary garden hose with strong water pressure to hose down the dirty water.

 

If there seem to be some substances that refuse to let go of your driveway surface, you can try mixing some bleach with clean water in a bucket and use this solution to scrub the driveway. Then use clean water to remove the solution from the driveway surface, straight into the sewer drain.

Final Takeaway

The outdoor areas of your home may have the least priority in home cleaning, but they can turn out to be the most important part. After all, when visitors arrive at your home, the first parts that they will see are the outdoor areas. You should also take some time to clean your outdoor areas so that your home will have a better market value. If you wish to sell your home for a higher price eventually, it pays to keep up with the cleaning and maintenance of outdoor areas as well.