How To Revitalize Your Deck & Patio After Winter

May 22, 2024 by Mulberry Maids

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Decks and patios are great places to spend time in the warmer months, but can usually use some extra love and care after a hard winter. A clean outdoor space will help to tie together a full home cleaning, to make sure your entire living space is as serene and tranquil as possible. 

As one of the best Fort Collins cleaning companies around, we are well versed in everything cleaning related, and love to help you out! To make sure you get your deck, patio, or other outdoor space looking perfect, keep reading for some simple tips to get those spaces back in shape for summer!

How do I clean my deck and patio?

The first step in cleaning and getting your deck or patio ready for summer is to declutter. Like so many things in house cleaning, this step is crucial, from refrigerators to getting your home ready for cleaners in the snowy months of the year. Without decluttering, you won’t be able to effectively get your outdoor space cleaned and ready for use. The goal for this step is two fold: one is to get rid of things that are not needed, and the second is to clear out the outdoor space so it is easier to clean.  

Now is also a good time to get your RV ready for summer adventures, which you can read all about in our easy guide. 

To get started decluttering, you can do the following:

• Go through everything you have in your outdoor space, and see what can be kept, and what should be sold or donated, or simply thrown out or recycled. 
• Once you have figured out what is staying, move everything off of the deck or patio, so you have a clean slate to work with. 

When the space is finally clean, you can start with the cleaning. This step will vary based on the space you are working with, and could be as simple as a thorough cleaning of the floor, to also needing to dust and wet wipe other features, such as railings, coverings, or built in furniture. 

If there is furniture or coverings to clean, it is best to do those first, as you will knock down debris and other things onto the floor. For outdoor cleaning, surfaces are typically more hearty, allowing you to use a variety of cleaning solutions. A simple water and vinegar mixture will be very effective for this, but you could also use a store bought all purpose. A mild dish soap and water mixture would also work really well for most surfaces. 

Start out by going through the area from top to bottom. Depending on the location of the outdoor space, and what you have available for use, you may want to spray the floor down with a hose at the end. You can then mop and scrub it to get any residue or marks off of it that have built up over the winter months. 

Once everything has been wet wiped and the flooring thoroughly cleaned, you can move everything that will be kept back out onto the deck or patio. 

How long will the process take?

This will depend on the state of the outdoor space, as well as the size of it. For a small deck or patio, this is actually a pretty quick and easy process, though it will take some physical effort to move things around.

For a larger more intricate space, this process could take a couple of hours at the beginning of the season. Wet wiping of railings and outdoor furniture can be a bit time consuming, as lots of debris and dust can get pretty caked onto surfaces. This goes for the floors as well. 

Factors that will affect the timing of this task include:

• The size of your outdoor space is the main one. A large intricate outdoor space is going to take more time to clean and organize than a small deck or patio. 
• The state of the outdoor space. Depending on where you are in the country, or if you decided to store things outside on it through the cold months or not, will dictate the effort needed to clean them. As with everything cleaning related, the dirtier the job, the longer it will take.   

What can I do to make cleaning these areas easier?

While there is nothing that can be done to reset what happened to your outdoor space in the previous winter, you can take some extra steps to help plan for next year. One thing that helps is to do your decluttering at the end of the year. Take stock of things that piled up over the summer and fall, and get rid of extra belongings that are not needed. 

If you have the space, you can also store anything that sits out through the warmer season in an inside space like a garage or attic. This will make the initial cleaning much easier, as you will generally just need to focus on getting the floors cleaned up at the beginning of the season. 

We are one of the highest quality Fort Collins cleaning companies right at your fingertips!

As one of the highest rated cleaning outfits in northern Colorado, you can always rest assured that your home cleaning will go smoothly! From our high end easy to use booking page to post cleaning customer service, we are the go to professional cleaning company in Fort Collins!

With all that said, don’t hesitate to give us a try, so you can spend some extra time at Taste of Fort Collins listening to music and sampling the great food in June!

Reach out to us with questions you have, or visit us online to get on our schedule on our online booking page. Thanks for reading, and talk soon!