Gutters, Washing and Paint: The Outside Jobs That Wait Too Long

Exterior maintenance never makes it to the top of the list, because nothing about it is on fire. It just quietly gets more expensive.

Gutters are the clearest example. Blocked, they overflow down the wall instead of out through the downspout, and the water goes into the fascia, the soffit and the ground right against the foundation. Clearing them is an afternoon. Replacing rotten fascia board is not. If there are trees over the roof — and around here there usually are — twice a year is the rhythm, and the second one after the leaves are down matters most.

Washing is the same shape of problem. Algae and mildew on siding, decking and masonry hold moisture against the surface, and on wood that means rot rather than just a stain. The trap is doing it too hard: concrete and brick take real pressure, but wood does not — push a narrow tip at full pressure into cedar or decking and you raise the grain and cut furrows that no stain hides afterwards. Vinyl has its own trap, where water driven upward gets behind the panels and stays there. A wider fan, a proper cleaning solution and a few minutes of dwell time do the work that brute force would otherwise have to.

Paint is the one that runs on the longest clock. Exterior coatings fail at the edges and the end grain first, so a small amount of touch-up while the surface is still sound saves stripping and re-coating a whole elevation later.

If it has been a while on any of it, call Phillip Tree Service & Landscaping at (678) 663-8845. We are usually on the property for the trees anyway, and the estimate covers whatever else needs doing while we are there.