This entire wall was all stained a dark grey, black, dark green from a long buildup of algae, other growth and pollutants. Careful cleaning of the left side made the wall look great while preserving plant life and the integrity of the wall.

This limestone retaining wall looked horrible! Years of exposure to the humid air and airborne spores of algae, fungi and mold led to this entire wall looking like the right side. Most of us don’t realize just how bad the situation has gotten until we clean away the debris. We get used to the look and in some ways it blends in with the surrounding landscaping.

Some neighborhood associations have restrictions that require homeowners to maintain the “clean” look of the stone.

Pressure washing is not a good solution to this problem. The high pressure can remove small surface amounts of stone or cause the stones to chip, flake or crack. The water can also damage the mortar that holds the wall together or penetrate between the stones and wash out some of the soil that the wall is meant to retain.

Well trained technicians with the proper chemical mix can quickly transform the look of the wall and WOW your friends and neighbors! Improper use of chemicals can damage or kill off the beautiful landscaping that the wall helps show off.

Beautiful limestone will not only make your home a prizewinner in the neighborhood, but it can also help you sell your house quicker.

Give us a call for a free estimate: 512-926-7000

Time for me to finish cleaning this wall…

The Oak Trees have almost shed all of their leaves and have filled our gutters. Don’t let this small problem create a much larger one when it rains and your gutter won’t drain the water! Clean the leaves out of the gutters as soon as possible to prevent water damage.

We will clean out all of the leaves and debris from your gutters and downspouts so you don’t have to!

Have you also noticed your gutters looking ugly on the outside? These gutters had green algae growing on them.

Nasty algae growth and dark streaks make this gutter look disgusting!

They sure look ugly and look pretty embarrassing when you have company coming over. Get them cleaned up and look like the hero!

This gutter looks great now!

If this is a job that you don’t have time to perform, don’t have the ladders you need, you don’t have time or just don’t want to do it, give us a call and get a free estimate: 512-926-7000

We look forward to hearing from you!

This stone wall is what my wife used to see when she drove up the driveway at our house. She hated seeing it every single day. It was the type of thing that put her in the wrong mood as she got home.

My wife said, “This wall just looks gross!”

So I followed some very simple procedures and got it looking like this:

Now my wife says that I am her hero!

Now she’s happy when she comes home and calls me her hero! Be the hero and clean up the mold around the outside of your house by following some simple procedures that we outline here.

If you don’t have the time or just don’t want to do it, give us a call for a free estimate: 512-926-7000.

Gutter Full of Leaves

We typically don’t think about keeping our gutters clean until there is already a problem. We have recently cleaned out a gutter that had a cactus growing out of it. That is when the customer realized she had a problem. On another house we saw a small tree growing out of the clogged gutter.

Clogged Gutters can cause at least 10 different problems:

1. Staining – Water in the gutter will soak up some of the debris and run over the side of the gutter staining the outside of the gutter and fascia which then need to be repainted.

2. Rotting Wood – Water running over the back side of the gutter can soak into the fascia board causing it to rot.

3. Sagging or Falling Gutters – Water sitting in the gutter causes extra stress on the supports for the gutter which can cause them to sag and eventually fall off.

4. Mold – Mildew will begin to grow when water does not run off or evaporate quickly. It can spread and be difficult to remove.

5. Trenching – Water flowing rapidly over the top of the gutter can pour onto the yard or garden and erode a trench.

6. Over-watering – too much water flowing onto plants that don’t need it can cause plant disease or death to the plants or lawn.

7. Pests – Clogged and wet gutters are a haven for mosquitoes, birds, ants, termites and other unwanted pests to breed and cause lots of problems.

8. Cracks in the Foundation – Too much water soaking into a homes foundation can cause stress through expansion and contraction or freezing.

9. Roof Damage – Water pooling in the gutter can flow up under the shingles soaking and potentially rotting the roof or soaking through and into the home.

10. Ice Dams – Not common here in Texas. Icicles are a sure sign of a problem. The extra weight can cause sagging or falling gutters and a falling icicle can cause serious injury.

Debris removed from Gutter

Keep your gutters clean by removing all of the debris after the leaves or other debris fall. That may mean twice a year here in Texas. You can also keep them clean by installing Rain Flow Gutter Protection.

Rain Flow Gutter Protection allows water to flow through but leaves to remain outside.

Its not complicated to take care of your gutters, but you may not really want to do it yourself. If not, give us a call for a free estimate. 512-926-7000

It wasn’t a pretty day, but the views are beautiful at this home and we made the views even better!

Most people don’t think about their view on the ugly days. This time of year, we can have a big mix of ugly days and spectacular days. Sometimes, the worst days for views are the best days to make them better. We spent the day at this home in Rob Roy getting things looking great for Christmas guests that are on their way. Everyone will be able to clearly see the great views at this home now that the sun is shining again!

We just washed the windows on a ranch house out in the Round Mountain area. The windows are all insulated Pella windows with the window treatments in between the panes. As is typical, a haze begins to build up inside the window unit and it must be opened to clean all 4 sides of glass on the window. This can be a tricky proposition! What makes this project even more difficult is that the window blinds are in between the panes and we had to be very careful to keep from getting the blinds dirty while washing the glass. It is not difficult, it just takes a lot of time and patience. We had to hold the blind away from the glass, clean the window, wipe all of the moisture away without leaving any smudges or smears and then gently place the blind back in place. We would leave the insulated part of the window open for a while to ensure that all of the moisture evaporated before closing them up. If you close these insulated units too soon, they will fog up and look horrible. Give us a call if you are not patient enough to wash your windows. 512-926-7000.

The details are real important when cleaning the inside portion of storm windows; especially the Pella type that can be opening and have blinds in between the panes.

Stains on glass from sprinklers, showers and run-off look just horrible on glass and they don’t just clean off. We always include a disclaimer in our proposals that states we are bidding a regular window cleaning and that removal of hard water staining is NOT included. We do this because when the windows are dirty, we usually can’t see if there are hard water stains and because removing of those stains does not happen when using traditional cleaning methods. The stains are not actually sitting on the surface just waiting to be wiped or scrubbed off, or even scraped off. They are actually chemically bonded to the glass and have changed the molecular structure of the surface of the glass. You can read more about the technical issues here.

These white hard water stains on the window and frame from the sprinkler system were easy to see when we quoted this cleaning.

We do our best to identify the staining when giving a proposal, but sometimes people are still surprised and disappointed when we have cleaned their windows, but they still have spots. People will ask, “Why didn’t you just use vinegar, I hear that works?” or, “Can’t you just rub some lemon juice or CLR on it?” In our experience, these methods typically don’t work and some methods can actually cause damage to the glass or to the surround framework or weatherproofing.

Restoration of glass and frames is also very time consuming and therefore, much more expensive than window cleaning. As the saying goes, “Time is Money!” We have found that stains can have different compositions and sometimes need a different approach to restore, so our “Go To” solution does not always work and is not always the quickest, but it may help you, if you want to do it yourself. Some of the quicker methods involve using acids that “can” damage other surrounding surfaces and be a health hazard.

We use Bar Keepers Friend – Cleanser and Polish. We have not had much success with Bar Keepers Friend – Soft Cleanser. Use a cotton rag, get it damp, but not soaked, and sprinkle some Bar Keepers Friend on the damp part of the rag. Use it to vigorously scrub the affected area. Rinse and repeat if necessary. It is not a fun process and depending on the severity of the stain can take a lot of time. Once you try it yourself, you will understand why we don’t include restoration in a regular cleaning price and why we may charge a significant amount for restoration. Hopefully you will get results similar to this “after” picture:

This is the same window as the “before” picture above.

Give it a try, or give us a call: 512-926-7000