Clean Curb Appeal

We didn’t get any trick or treaters this year. By that, I mean we didn’t have one single costumed ghost and ghoul that came to our front door seeking a Snickers bar or Hershey’s or my favorite Almond Joy. The Almond Joy features sweetened, shredded coconut and whole almonds smothered in a milk chocolate coating. If you’re like me and you just want to get your coconut fix — this candy bar can definitely serve that purpose.

But getting back to my story.

Our home was ready for Halloween. I don’t mean decorating. And I can promise you there was nothing frightening or threatening here. I mean the exterior of our home was grimy, gross, dingy, and dirty. Because of that, we probably scared off any possible trick or treaters. I guess if I were a kid looking for Halloween loot, our home wouldn’t have been at the top of my list of targets. Even at night, our house looked neither inviting nor promising. Umm, yup, that was our house.

You see, time and weather colluded to wreak havoc on our windows, stucco, roof, front porch, driveway, and lanai. In fact, our lanai was green or black where it shouldn’t have been green or black. Trust me, those are not out exterior paint colors.

I realize this is all probably starting to sound like the beginning narrative of a joke but bear with me here.

We love our beautiful, wild Florida, but I have to admit Florida has some crazy risks involved with living here, and a lot of them seem like cruel jokes made by Mother Nature. 2020 has been one nonstop record-breaking year for hurricanes.

Over the years, I still hear people talk about Hurricane Charley that struck southwest Florida in 2004. They talk of how it made landfall with sustained winds of nearly 145 miles per hour. Residents say that high winds left two coastal towns of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte with twisted heaps of wood and metal. I’ve seen photos with enormous trees that had been crashed through roofs and walls. In rural inland counties, intense gusts created so much pressure in structures that they literally exploded, as if squashed by a giant fist.

Thank goodness Florida made it through much of the year without a direct hit like Hurricane Charlie, but it was still impacted from high winds and rain. Actually, as of this writing, tropical storm Eta, the 28th named storm of this active 2020 hurricane season, recently moved out into the Atlantic Ocean. The biggest problem with Eta was the horrific rainfall. It dumped torrents of rain on us. And the relentless wind battered our home for days on end.

Our home is surrounded by innumerous beautiful trees and is close to a busy road which collects a lot of dust and dirt that gets kicked up by ~~passing~~ speeding motorists. All this filth clings to the exterior stucco on our home. This combination doesn’t bode well with hurricanes and torrential rainfall.

I know it’s just as important to keep the exterior of our home in good condition as it is for the interior. So, it was about time for the outside of our home to get some TLC. If only I could attack the exterior with bottles of Formula 409. Washing the exterior of our home is not my favorite pastime as it usually requires untangling a long hose, trying to find where I last left the bucket, sneaking some liquid soap from under the kitchen sink since I forgot to purchase gallon jugs of Formula 409 from Tractor Supply, and dragging out our heavy-duty extension ladder. I wanted to find an easier way out of this drudgery.

Since I knew our house truly needed serious exterior washing, I thought if there was some sort of “Roof-to-Road” package cleaning. You know…the entire works…like an automatic drive through car wash. Where we could move forward until our house’s foundation aligned with a track system that would guide our house through so it washes the roof, bathes the house, cleans the windows, scours the front porch, cleanses the lanai, cleans the gutters, and scrubs the driveway. After the wash is finished, we’d be notified via a sign and a light letting us know it’s safe to leave the garage. Okay, so a commercial drive through is a bit far-fetched.

What I needed was a magic wand.

Specifically, my magic wand would emanate from a pressure washer spray gun so that it would wash away the gross grime and dirt. Did you know that some pressure washers are capable of uploading 4000 pounds of pressure per square inch? That’s something nobody should take lightly. And never use a ladder—the pressure from the machine could push you back, and you can easily fall from the ladder. I decided long ago that if I’m going to be around for long after retirement, I need to avoid any wet ladder tasks.

And I didn’t want to hire just anyone who claimed to have a “pressure washing business.” Amateurs could do a lot of harm to our home.

The Local Boy strives to provide the best job in the most professional manner, at the fairest price, to his customers’ satisfaction. Trent Cholley offers a complete range of reliable pressure washing solutions to clean every inch of your building exterior. He cleans and removes dirt, grime, mildew, mold, bacteria, algae, and other organic stains from your building’s exterior. He cleans all kinds of surfaces, including concrete floors, driveway, roof, and any other area that you want to be cleaned.

Yes, I know. I sound like a pitchman for the locally-owned and operated The Local Boy. Heck, yes, I am! Trent began by air blowing off loose debris from the roof and cleaned out the gutters. Then he sprayed the whole roof with an outdoor cleaning agent to loosen the dirt and moss and washed the whole roof with a low-pressure, high-volume pressure-washer. After clearing out the gutters and downspouts, he rinsed everything off. Then the professional young man thoroughly cleaned every single inch of our most prized possession—with know-how, and care.

When the 22-year-old isn’t holding a magic wand to hose down homes, you might possibly find him with a powerful fire hose extinguishing burning homes and businesses or rescuing people and animals. You see, this young entrepreneur is also a firefighter and paramedic.