Why Fall Is the Best Time to Clean Your Exterior and Outdoor Living Spaces

If you’re an autumn aficionado, you’ve probably already begun to make your fall plans. The season of change has no shortage of things to do, from hiking to apple picking to hayrides and more. Cleaning your home probably isn’t at the top of your list of priorities this coming season, but maybe it should be. While spring is typically seen as the season for fresh starts, fall also offers a prime opportunity to take stock of your property’s exterior features and prepare them for the colder days to come. So, if you haven’t added exterior cleaning to your fall checklist yet, now’s a great time to do so.

Let’s go over the many reasons fall is the best time to clean your exterior and outdoor living spaces.

Avoid Oppressive and Bitter Temperatures

There’s nothing wrong about cleaning your outdoor features during the summer, but the high temperatures and humidity levels might make it difficult to even find the energy to get started. In Nashville, TN and many other regions, average temperatures start to dip around the middle of September and continue to fall through winter. Of course you don’t want to wait so long to clean that you’re faced with freezing temperatures. Many days between September and November fall in the goldilocks zone in regards to temperature (between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit). These moderate temperatures are perfect for outdoor activities, including exterior cleaning. So, whether you’re pressure washing, scrubbing, or hosing down your outdoor surfaces, you won’t have to sweat it so much during the fall.

There’s Still Plenty of Daylight

The days get shorter and shorter between the summer and winter solstices (i.e., between late June and late December). That said, the sun still lingers for a while throughout most of autumn. In September, Nashville, TN and surrounding areas can expect to see about 12 hours of daylight, October offers an average of 11 hours, and November marks the beginning of the end of fall with about 10 hours of daylight on average. If you’re wondering what any of this has to do with exterior cleaning, consider that more daylight equates to more time in a given day to tackle outdoor projects, including cleaning -- after all, it’s not easy (or practical) to clean something in the dark. You might have a couple more hours of daylight during summer, but once again, you’ll have to contend with high heat and humidity, too. It’s often best to sacrifice a couple hours of light to enjoy the cooler temperatures, which makes fall a perfect time to tackle exterior cleaning.

Get Those Gutters in Great Shape

Your gutters are a prime target for all sorts of debris during the fall, especially fallen leaves. Failing to keep your gutters clear can result in serious clogs leading to moisture intrusion, damaged gutters, and more. As such, it’s important to keep your gutters in check all autumn long. It’s equally important to thoroughly clean your gutters shortly after summer to set them up for success during the fall and beyond. Indeed, summer conditions can gunk up your gutters, too (e.g., nests, leaves, dirt, twigs, droppings, etc.). If you want to get the job done efficiently, pressure wash your gutters towards the beginning of fall and be prepared to periodically clear them out as the season develops.

Say Goodbye to Summer Grime

If you clean your home’s exterior and outdoor living spaces too soon, you might find that you need to break out the pressure washer not long after the last time you cleaned these surfaces. Summers in Nashville, TN are often sticky, after all, and it doesn’t take much for dust, dirt, and debris to cling to your property’s exterior surfaces, even if you cleaned them not long ago. While this futile perspective might make you question the point of cleaning your home at all, that’s not the lesson here. Rather, the key to efficient cleaning is timing. Giving your home’s exterior surfaces a thorough wash towards the beginning of fall will allow you to rid it of summertime grime so it’s ready to take on fall filth.

Prepare Your Outdoor Spaces for Colder Weather

Fall isn’t the only season on the horizon -- winter is next up. Few of us want to even think about winter weather so early in the game, but it pays to prepare your home for winter’s wrath. Thoroughly cleaning your exterior surfaces and outdoor living spaces in the fall is a crucial way to protect them from the worst winter has to offer. Consider that you won’t be able to get much, if any, exterior cleaning done during the winter anyway. In this sense, autumn is your last chance in a given year to properly clean your home’s exterior. In doing so, you reduce the risk of winter weather-related damage that might befall your property, such as mold, mildew, rot, and more.

Enjoy Increased Contractor Availability and Savings

Cleaning your home during fall is practical for other reasons, too. More specifically, it’s often easier to schedule pressure washing services and other key services during this time, as summer tends to be the busiest period for these contractors. The decrease in demand for these services may also yield lower prices, giving you a better deal. It’s worth noting, of course, that other homeowners are bound to have the same idea, making things more competitive than anticipated. To clinch your fall cleaning services (and any other services you require), it’s important to plan ahead and start looking for local contractors months in advance, if possible.

Prepare Your Exterior for Fresh Coatings

Lastly, cleaning is a key component of surface preparation for residential exterior painting. And, as we’ve discussed before, autumn also happens to be the perfect time to invest in exterior painting. Because residential pressure washing and exterior painting are intertwined, it only makes sense to get both done at the same time. Fall is an ideal time to clean your exterior and outdoor living spaces, especially if you plan on painting your home in the near future.

Get a Fresh Start for Your Home During Fall

Summer is coming to a close and winter inches ever closer by the day -- but in between these two poles is the beautiful buffer known as fall. Don’t let the next few months pass you by without at least cleaning your home’s exterior and outdoor living spaces. At Nash Painting, we serve our Nashville, Brentwood, and Franklin, TN customers year-round, and we know that fall is the best time to invest in multiple exterior renovations. Let us help you get your home in great shape this autumn. To learn more about us, our services, and our values, call us at 615-829-6858 today!