The holiday season is quickly approaching, and you are probably planning for parties and family get-togethers by buying presents and stocking your pantry with everyone’s favorite foods. But there are more ways to prepare your home for the holiday season than just purchasing presents and planning dinners.

Our team at True Clean Power Wash & Seal wants you to know exactly how to prepare your home for the holiday season so you can focus on enjoying time with your family and friends. 

1. Get High-Traffic Areas Pressure Washed

Hosting your family for the holiday season means lots of feet walking in and out of your home. High-traffic areas on the pavement that are already dirty from regular traffic may become even dirtier, leaving you with dingy walkways at the end of the season. If you are trying to prepare your home for the holiday season, you should consider getting these high-traffic areas in front of your home pressure washed ahead of time. 

Not only will pressure washing these high-traffic areas improve the visual appearance of your home as guests arrive, but it also takes a chore off of your list for the end of the holiday season. If you are trying to enjoy the holiday season by focusing on spending time with your loved ones, you should call a team of professionals to pressure wash these areas for you. 

2. Invest In Window Cleaning

Whether you want people to see your holiday decorations from outside your home or you want to enjoy watching the snowfall, investing in window cleaning is a great way to prepare your home for the holiday season. Having dirty, streaky windows may make it difficult for you and your guests to enjoy your space fully.

In addition to being easier to see through, clean windows brighten up your home. While the winter months are generally darker, that doesn’t mean your home has to be as well. If you want to prepare your home for the holiday season, ensure you schedule a window cleaning before you schedule your holiday parties. 

3. Double-Check Your Home’s Gutters

Dirty gutters are an eyesore, and as they fill with debris, this problem only becomes more significant. If your gutters are left uncleaned, dirty storm water may leak down the sides of your home, streaking your siding with dirt and grime, making this an even bigger problem to tackle. You should double-check your gutters to avoid this and prepare your home for the holiday season.

When checking your home’s gutters, you may even find that you are dealing with a mold and mildew growth problem. If this is left unaddressed, it may become much more significant and can lead to health problems. If you or any family members have respiratory health issues, it is essential that you schedule a gutter cleaning to prepare your home for the holiday season. 

4. Wash Your Home’s Siding

The exterior walls of your home protect you from everything, from wind to rain and snow. But, as they protect you from this weather, they can quickly become dirty and dingy looking. If you want to prepare your home for the holiday season, you should consider getting the exterior walls of your home professionally cleaned. 

While dirty walls might not be much of a problem for you if you have darker siding on your home, lighter walls will show every drop of dirt and grime. This dirt and grime can dramatically impact the curb appeal. If you want your home to look its best before your family and friends come over, you should prepare your home for the holiday season by washing your home’s siding. 

5. Get Professional Holiday Light Installation

The last thing you want when you are trying to prepare your home for the holiday season is for another chore to fall into your lap. You already have plenty going on without adding even more to the list. If you want to take some of this stress off of your shoulders, you should consider hiring a team of professionals to install your holiday lights.

With the help of a team of professionals, your lights may be installed more quickly than if you tried to do it yourself. They may even be able to create an intricate holiday light display that makes your home the talk of the neighborhood. 

6. Clear Debris Off Of Your Backyard Deck

While the holiday season is pretty cold in the northern hemisphere, and you probably don’t spend much time in your home’s outdoor spaces as snow begins to fall, clearing debris off your backyard deck is still important to prepare your home for the holiday season. With so many indoor entertaining spaces, you might not think these outdoor spaces are important. 

But you don’t want a dirty deck to stop you from keeping this as an option. If your deck is cleared off, you may even want to invest in an outdoor heater, allowing you to utilize this space year-round. You may also choose to decorate this space with holiday lights, wreaths, or tinsel to tie your whole home together. 

7. Schedule And Plan Everything Ahead Of Time

The holiday season often flies by in the blink of an eye. If you want to prepare your home for the holiday season, it is best that you schedule and plan everything ahead of time. If you don’t schedule everything ahead of time, you may feel like you are scrambling to keep up as the holidays come even closer.

By planning ahead of time, you ensure you have everything you need before your family is over, allowing yourself to enjoy this time fully. By planning ahead, you may even allow yourself to miss out on any shortages at stores or full schedules. If you are tired of the stress that accompanies this time of year, you should do everything you can to schedule and plan to prepare your home for the holiday season. 

Prepare Your Home For The Holiday Season With True Clean Power Wash & Seal

No matter what you need to do to prepare your home for the holiday season, our team at True Clean Power Wash & Seal is ready for it all. With years of experience, we are confident that we can quickly clean your home and leave it looking more beautiful than ever.

If you would like to schedule professional holiday light installation or any pressure washing services, contact our team today.

Unless you’re someone who likes to leave their Christmas lights up all year round, the new year means that it’s time to take them down and store them until the next holiday season. This can be a menace, because you don’t want to take them out of storage and have them be a tangled disaster. If you have professionals put up your Christmas lights, you can also get professional Christmas light removal and storage. No need to worry about fighting with strands of lights!

That’s a relief, but how does professional Christmas light removal and storage work? 

We’ve gone into the benefits of hiring professionals to do your lights in our previous blogs. Now, we’ll get into the professional Christmas light removal and storage process so you can see how painless it is.

When Do Professionals Take Christmas Lights Down?

It depends on the company and the service that you chose! Some companies allow you to buy their Christmas lights, so you can leave them up as long as you want. If you buy the lights, you’ll likely be able to decide if you want the professionals to remove and store them or if you want to store them yourself. 

Most companies take Christmas lights down within a set time frame. Typically, they remove your lights in January or February. Usually, professionals want to remove and store Christmas lights before the end of February. If you want to keep them up for longer than that, you will likely be responsible for removing them and storing them yourself.

So, in short: it’s a bit up to you and a bit up to the company you work with. If you want your lights taken down as soon as Christmas is over, that can be arranged. If you want to leave them up longer, that can work too. However, if you want them up for months after the holidays, then you’ll likely need to remove them yourself. 

Do You Need To Schedule An Appointment For Professional Christmas Light Removal And Storage?

Again, it depends! Most companies will contact you to schedule a time for your professional Christmas light removal and storage. Depending on the company, you may or may not need to be home. In many cases, Christmas lights can be taken down without your needing to be there. 

Professionals take great care when they remove your lights. This is both to protect the lights themselves and to protect your property from any damage. 

How Do Professionals Store Christmas Lights?

One of the best parts of getting professional Christmas lights is also getting to enjoy professional Christmas light removal and storage. Tempting as it can be to just wad up your lights and toss them in a box, storing Christmas lights properly is essential in order to ensure that they work next year (and to save your future self much frustration). 

You may wonder how professionals store Christmas lights, either just for the sake of curiosity or while looking for pointers. Professionals typically store your Christmas lights off-site in a specific storage space that their business either owns or rents. They usually use bins. 

Prior to installing lights next holiday season, they’ll test your lights in order to see if any need to be replaced. They also test the lights before storing them. With proper storage, your lights have a greater chance of lasting longer.

Why Should You Get Professional Christmas Light Removal And Storage?

Most companies that do Christmas light services include removal and storage in the cost, but some do charge a separate fee for this service. Regardless, though, you may wonder whether or not you really need to take your lights down, or if you can enjoy them all year round.

While lights along your roof are certainly magical, if you want to be able to enjoy your Christmas lights for as long as possible, you’ll want to get professional Christmas light removal and storage. Christmas lights are only meant to be used seasonally.

If you leave them up all year, you could end up struggling with:

• Tree damage from cords wrapping around them and impeding their growth.
• Weather damage, such as dimmer bulbs and eroded ends.
• Wildlife that will chew on whatever they can, including your Christmas lights.

To enjoy your lights as long as possible, you should have them taken down once the holidays are over.

Professional Christmas Light Removal And Storage

True Clean Power Wash & Seal provides professional Christmas light removal and storage as part of our Christmas lights services. Contact us today to learn more!

You know the struggle everyone has during the holidays: you’re putting up your lights only for the string to not work anymore. Then, you have to go out to the busier-than-usual stores in order to get new lights to replace them with and hope they work. 

Professional Christmas lights eliminate this hassle. This is because the technicians will test the lights prior to installation in order to ensure that they work. If they need replacement, they’ll come out and take care of any necessary repairs and replacements. But even so, professional Christmas lights don’t last forever. As such, you may wonder whether or not professional Christmas lights are worth it. 

Here’s what you need to know about the factors that impact how long your Christmas lights last and why it’s beneficial to entrust this job to the professionals.

What’s The Average Lifespan Of Professional Christmas Lights?

It can be challenging to get an accurate, honest idea of how long professional lights will work. This is because many companies will quote you hundreds upon hundreds of hours – which definitely sounds nice and can draw in business. However, if the company you’re considering tells you that their lights will last for over 10 years… You’re better off finding a more honest company to do business with. 

In truth, there are a lot of factors that impact how long your lights will last. From the climate of where you live to the type of lights the company you hire uses, the lifespan of Christmas lights varies.

In general, though, you can expect the following lifespan from your lights:

• For LED lights: These will last you about 6-8 years. 
• For traditional lights: These will last you about 4-6 years.

Bear in mind that there are a lot of factors that can affect the lifespan of Christmas lights. It’s important to note that if you’re working with a professional company, they can change up your lights each year, depending on the services they provide. This allows you to never even have to concern yourself with the lifespan of your lights because they’re always in good condition!

What About Those Claims Of Lifespans Of 75,000 Hours Or More?

You may see some manufacturers claiming that their Christmas lights can last you anywhere from 75,000 hours to an absurd 200,000+ hours. This is partially marketing, and partially a lack of taking environmental factors into account.

For instance, if you have lights in a lab, yes, they will likely last a lot longer. They’re not exposed to snow and ice and winds, after all. Plus, lights, especially LED lights, do have a long lifespan. However, claims like this often disregard how Christmas lights are actually used – and how something is used and the conditions that it is exposed to play a dramatic role in how long it will last. 

Factors That Affect The Lifespan Of Your Christmas Lights

Now, if you work with professionals to do your Christmas lights each year, the lifespan of your lights likely isn’t something that you really need to worry about, unless you purchase the lights from the company, rather than renting them. This is because many professional Christmas lights companies do rentals, which allows you to go with different lights and designs each season. 

Professionals will also test your lights prior to installing them in order to ensure that everything works well. 

That said, there are quite a few factors that affect the lifespan of your lights. If you do purchase your lights from the Christmas lights company, it’s good to be aware of these things, so that you can be better prepared for when you’ll need to buy new lights.

#1. The Type Of Light

Different types of lights have different lifespans. LED lights generally last longer than traditional lights. However, if you use your lights a lot, even the highest quality lights won’t last you as long as they would otherwise.

#2. Environmental Conditions

If you live somewhere with harsh environmental conditions, your Christmas lights won’t last you as long. Whether you live close to a beach or you live somewhere that gets a lot of snow and ice, environmental factors can cause your lights to deteriorate sooner.

#3. Improper Storage

Some people leave their Christmas lights up year-round. However, most people put them into storage. If you don’t store your lights properly, they will likely need more frequent replacement. This is another reason why it’s beneficial to work with professionals. Professionals ensure that your lights are properly stored so that they can last you longer. 

True Clean Power Wash & Seal provides professional Christmas lights services in and around the Charlotte area. While there’s no definitive answer for how long your lights will last you, when you work with a professional company, you can rest assured that they are taken care of and that any necessary repairs or replacements will be completed in a timely manner.

To learn more about our Christmas lights services, please don’t hesitate to contact us today!