How to Spring Clean the Outside of Your Home

Spring cleaning is more than scrubbing the interior of a home from top-to-bottom; most houses can benefit from some outside cleaning as well. A clean exterior boosts a home's curb appeal and may also help prevent damage as well.

Cleaning the outside of your home is a fairly simple weekend task. For supplies, all that's required is a hose with adjustable nozzle, step ladder, broom, rags, and your favorite "green" cleaning products. Here's a checklist of common outside tasks that will help brighten and shine up the exterior of your home.

Sweep out and hose down the porch. During the winter, leaves and cobwebs tend to accumulate on a front porch. To clean a porch, start at the top and work down:

--Knock off cobwebs and accumulated dust with the broom

--Polish up the windows with vinegar

--Wipe down the rails with a damp cloth

--Hose off the porch floor (or damp mop if made of wood)

Clean out the rain gutters. While it's true that most leaves drop in the fall, certain trees shed their leaves and dried seed pods in the very early spring which can clog up the rain gutters and clog downspouts. Cleaning out the rain gutters keeps them functioning properly; remember to hose out the downspouts as well to break loose any blockages.

Sweep off the roof. Gabled homes have hidey holes on the roof where leaves, twigs, and other debris can accumulate. Sweeping debris off the roof prevents mold from forming which may damage your roof.

Hose off the siding. By the time spring rolls around, the exterior of my house is covered with cobwebs and dust. A regular garden hose with an adjustable nozzle does a great job of knocking off the cobwebs and removing road dust. For stubborn areas, we use an RV brush wand.

Scrub the windows and wash the screens. Before installing summer screens, these should be hosed off to remove dust. As far as cleaning the windows, a mild vinegar & hot water solution does a great job of removing scale and polishing the glass.

Shine up the exterior light fixtures Spring cleaning is also a good time to clean out and shine up the exterior light fixtures of your garage and home. For these, I'll use a mild solution of ammonia & hot water to remove grime from the lamps and shine up the glass panels.

More articles by this contributor:

Winter cleaning tips that will brighten up your home

Rooftop maintenance tasks for the homeowner

How to organize your household cleaning supplies