After a long wet winter, spring's bright sun and warm winds are.......... on the way I hope:)
well, we deserve a breath of fresh air in any case.
The only downside?
All that sunshine highlights my peeling paintwork, leaf-filled gutters, green moss covered decks, cracked sidewalks and the dead plants in last year's flower beds.
Yes I'm afraid its time for me to start organizing the big cleanup ready for those summer barbies and Sunday parties.
My list is starting to look like an inventory for some serious labour and effort, but I find the best way is to just start at the top and work my way down.
With anything to do with home maintenance, the best added value I will get other than mowing the lawns and putting out the rubbish is from the exterior painting, roof repairs and cleaning in-general.
These are the cheapest and easiest to sort out and the finished result will add the biggest difference to the look and feel of my home.
My top 3 to-do building maintenance things on my list...
- Full house wash including roof, walls, windows, decks, driveways and fences. For me this is the best place to start. I'm just going to get my house wash guys on the job. Its relatively cheap and they will add a treatment to keep the moss and mold at bay for a few years. For good quality paint work, fencing timber and driveways a soft wash is best as it wont scour the top layer off, however it sometimes takes a while to work. A high pressure wash will highlight the areas in need of repair as it will flick the loose paint off.
- Painting and repairs Use a screwdriver to probe the wood trim around windows, doors, railings and decks. Make repairs now before the spring rains do more damage to the exposed wood. Don't use builders bog! it doesn't like the wet, it will swell and fall out in no time flat. The best products are Selleys Permafill and Red Devil exterior fillers. Sand the patch and use an oil based primer (It is still the best) tinted to your house colour. Next I will apply two water based exterior top coats to seal the area. I'll also seal up any cracks and gaps with a paintable sealant such as 'No more gaps' or a paintable MS modified silicone such as Sikaflex. Don't use standard silicone if you are going to paint the area, paint wont stick to it. I have lots more tips and tricks that I can include in later posts for this sort of work.
- Roof repairs are best left up to the maintenance professionals as it is dangerous and requires some experience in finding leaks and knowledge in the correct materials to use for repairs. However I can do the basic things such as gutter cleaning as it can be done safely from a ladder or using an attachment for the hose. For the rest I get the pro's with Height and Safety training and equipment to sort the roof out. In my case I have an old state house with cast concrete roofing tiles, all I did to avoid a re roof two years ago was have my team re-mortar the capping, replace 20 or so damaged tiles which I found at the demolition yard and spray 4 coats of Paint/sealer on top, I saved about $6000 and gave the roof another 10 yrs life!
Your list is logically planned: clean then reinforce the house. And it makes sense to do the part of the work that you can do yourself as it will lower the cost if you would hire some professionals to do the hard jobs. The roof is the most crucial of all. A damaged roof can lead to leaks which can damage painting, wood, and metal in the house. So, yeah, you might as well leave that to the skilled people.
ReplyDeleteClinton Morphew