Your deck can be one of your family’s favorite places, and decks are great for enjoying a meal or just sitting back and enjoying a pleasant day outside. However, patios tend to accumulate clutter, and their exposure to harsh weather can cause wear over time. Here are a few tips for keeping your deck or patio in great shape.
Treat Your Deck Like Any Other Room
People often have regular schedules for cleaning their homes. However, patios are often not included on this list, and homeowners sometimes clean their patios far less frequently. Just like any other room, patios are easier to keep clutter-free if they’re cleaned regularly, so set aside some cleaning time when you clean the rest of your home. Most patios should only add a few minutes to cleaning time since they don’t need to be vacuumed like interior rooms.
Be Wary of Chemicals
Homeowners often like to keep paint, cleaning chemicals and other materials that can cause stains outdoors, and many people place them on their patios. Doing so, however, can be risky, as small leaks can damage portions of your patio permanently. This risk is greater than many realize since patios sit outdoors, where hot and cold weather can increase the odds of leaks. If you use your patio as storage space, make sure you place a protective barrier underneath containers that hold corrosive or staining chemicals.
Professional Maintenance
When they’re serviced and treated regularly, patios require little maintenance. However, it’s easy to forget about these services, and doing so can leave your patio vulnerable to permanent damage. Professional deck cleaning and protecting services let you rest assured that your patio can handle inclement weather, and it can restore the look of your patio to like-new condition. These services also make your patio easier to wipe clean when needed. Homeowners interested in staining their patios without expert help need to ensure they follow instructions carefully and are able to apply stains and other chemicals correctly to avoid causing damage.
Storage Considerations
Patios can be valuable storage areas, but using your patio in this manner can cause clutter to accumulate quickly. Consider investing in shelves and other storage solutions to keep your storage area compact and easy to organize. Again, placing a protective layer below these storage options can help prevent stains and other problems. If you run out of space on your patio for storing everything, keeping a shed in your yard might be a better idea.
Patios are versatile spaces, but they need attention. Make sure you budget time for keeping your patio in great shape, and keep an eye out for problems so you can fix them before they get worse.