How To Remove Stains From Your Home Exterior
Being a homeowner is an all-around job. From handling the bills down to maintaining the entire house, they’re expected to stay on top of all these tasks. Otherwise, their house will suffer from it, affecting their quality of life indoors. Although paying the bills is fairly straightforward, the ‘real’ problem arises when home maintenance is in the picture. Because, regardless of its size, the homeowner must be vigilant in ensuring thoroughness.
Stains are often overlooked, given how they only affect the house aesthetically. But what most homeowners aren’t aware of is how stains can crop up for all sorts of reasons, ranging from damaged parts to an accumulation of living organisms.
With so many causes to look into, stains could easily compromise the house’s integrity. Hence, they must be dealt with as soon as possible.
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Determine Its Material
Stains have always been found in many homeowners’ biggest peeves because they can be seen latching onto anywhere, be it wood, metal, or concrete. Therefore, as much as homeowners would want a brick house or a wood cabin for their curb appeal, each has issues that must be looked into ahead of time. Otherwise, homeowners would have difficulty searching for a solution once the problem is right there.
Since they can accumulate on all surfaces, dealing with stains requires different approaches. For example, all you need to do to remove stains from wood is either sand them away or look for a stain removal chemical designed for wood. In comparison, if you try these remedies on a metal surface, you’re already setting yourself up for failure because metal most likely requires professional expertise from a rust removal service to handle it.
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Identify The Stain
After identifying the material of the stained surface, the next thing to do is to determine what kind of stain you’re dealing with. Because there are all sorts of surfaces they can latch onto, stains also come in different types.
Paint, mildew, rubber marks, and mud are only some common stains you’ll see along your home exterior. Naturally, each requires a different approach. Combining the type of material with the kind of stain guarantees a higher possibility of removing the stain entirely.
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Look Up DIY Remedies
In many cases, turning to professional removal services will do you more good than relying on your expertise alone. For example, window cleaning in Los Angeles, where most living accommodations are found in condominiums or apartments, is a much better option than going out there to clean your windows while you’re up multiple stories. Although, if you live in the suburbs or urban areas, there’s no harm in trying out different do-it-yourself remedies.
Considering its DIY, many homeowners – and even stain removal experts – have shared their knowledge across the internet. Therefore, you might end up finding some methods to work well with you while others don’t.
The baking soda-and-water method has already been tried and true for hundreds of households, especially when removing hard water stains from windows. However, its downside is it leaves behind a film that demands endless wiping before it clears up.
Ensure you collect the right materials for the task. Otherwise, the results might not be what you’re expecting. But given how vast the internet is, browse for alternatives if the solution you found isn’t doable due to limited materials or some other issue.
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Test It Out
Although there’s no harm in attempting DIY solutions, that doesn’t mean you should count on them to work, especially if you did them the first time. Instead of applying your solution to the entire stained wall, try it out on a small patch.
After all, purchasing materials for the stain removal task isn’t cheap. Be mindful of what you put on your home exterior. Otherwise, you’re likely to fail at removing outdoor stains, and the materials you used were all for nothing.
Takeaway
Eventually, stains could take root on any surface, especially if the homeowner hasn’t been paying attention to their home exterior for a long time. Not only do they ruin its curb appeal, but leaving behind stains for too long can also damage – even worsen – some parts of the house that are worn down.
Since replacing the affected area would take too much time and resources, it’s better to remove the stains instead. Although there are numerous stain removal solutions on the internet, it’s tricky to find an authentic one. Therefore, it’s best to get the general gist before doing anything else.