One of the things most of us don’t have is tons of extra time to worry about how our homes look. If we are lucky we find time to clean the inside and maybe wash the cars but the exterior of your home can have a lot to do with how much you enjoy living where you are.
With this in mind lets look at how you can makeover your outside in just a couple days so you can enjoy your spring, summer and fall outside without wasting time maintaining it.
The first thing you have to decide is can you do the work yourself and for most of this HowTo you probably can do the work on your own in just one weekend. You should also preplan your work by stopping by supply stores and garden centers the week or two before picking up items you will need. And always remember to ask about sales. If you don’t see a sale ask because garden centers are more then happy to tell you when the best time is to get items and how buying in bulk can save you money.
So lets look at the things we could do to make our outside areas livable.
Lawn Maintenance
Taking care of your lawn can be a drag if you are always fighting dead grass and weeds. A weed and feed fertilizer can make your life much easier if you apply it the first nice weekend in the spring.
You want to look for the type that has pre-emergent crabgrass and dandelion herbicides. If you can stop the growth of weeds before they go to seed then they won’t take over your yard. It is also very important if your neighbors don’t take care of their yards. Preventing the seeding of these weeds will reduce your lawn care time over the summer by many hours. Also a well fertilized lawn will be less susceptible to weed and burnout during summer droughts.
Applying Weed & Feed mix should take you about an hour per half acre of lawn area.
Seeding is also important if you have thin areas. If you need to see and to fertilize give them a week of separation and apply the seed after the fertilizer. A large bag of fescue and bluegrass seed will run you $20 to $40 but buy it at an Agway or other supply center to save money.
Sealing Your Driveway
You should clean and seal your driveway about once every other year to extend its life.
Oil based or latex emulsion products are available with or without sand filler to fill cracks and there are squeeze bottles and caulk gun mixtures that can also help.
The idea is to coat the surface until water won’t penetrate. This will reduce cracking in the winter when water gets into the asphalt and expands. This is how potholes form on roads but even though you don’t have a high amount of traffic on your driveway to force away the broken asphalt and cause huge holes, cracks will eventually mean surface replacement.
Give yourself about 3 hours to do this job correctly.
The night before you do the work trim around the driveway to remove grass that overhangs sweep away as much dirt as you can. Apply cleaner to any oil spots. Liquid cloths washing detergent works great. Then wash the driveway.
The next morning begin by edging the border of the driveway with sealer and then work at the highest point of the driveway applying sealer with a roller. If this is your first time then you may need to add a second coat.
Mulch Trees, Bushes and Flower Gardens
Applying mulch can help you and your garden in many ways.
First it will eliminate the need to weedwack or trim around your plants when you cut your grass. This will save you hours.
It also keeps the roots of plants Moist and cool in the summer and warm in the winter. This will help your plants grow better. It will also reduce the amount of watering you need to do since the ground will be protected from the hot sun.
And it also looks nice that is a primary reason in this makeover.
Mulch can be ordered by the Yard from garden supply centers much cheaper then by the bag. Order a load to be delivered and place a heavy plastic tarp on your driveway for the dropoff. They might charge you less if you allow a longer window for delivery the week before you need it.
Planting and Maintaining Plants
If you already have a number of trees and bushes in your garden then you might not need to plant anymore but you should inspect each plant and tree for dead areas that you can cut out. Removing dead branches or areas of bushes allows them to regrow during the spring and summer months.
You might also want to do some pruning to reshape any plants that are growing wild. Natural wild shapes are nice but to keep your plants healthy you may need to reshape them once in a while.
Planting annuals are also a nice way to enhance your garden. Shaded areas will require less watering but flowers will take longer to grow and blossom. Try braking up colors and plant styles to give a more natural look.
If you want to add Bushes and Trees to your Garden remember that Garden Suppliers will often plant them for free. They do this to ensure the plants have a good start and to reduce returns. And that is another thing always look for a company that will accept returns of plants that die soon after purchase. Some businesses will give you a whole season to return a dead plant.
Cleaning Your Home and Deck
With a pressure washer you can clean the outside of your home in just a few hours. Soap solutions are made to improve the cleaning of different surfaces. If you find you have mold and dark stains you should use a 10% bleach to water solution and allow it to stand wet for at least an hour before you wash the area with soap.
Even though your home may look generally clean you will be pretty amazed how much dirt comes off it in the process.
If you can you should schedule cleaning prior to a rain. This will help remove any residual chemicals left behind.
Final Note
The Five jobs we did outside should have a pretty dramatic result for your outdoor garden space. All of the work should have only taken a weekend to do but you can split it over a couple weekends if you want.
The important thing is that you can accomplish some pretty quick jobs that effect large areas. Preparing your grass and Sealing your Driveway will have a dramatic effect if you have been pushing off those jobs.
Pruning and mulching your bushes and a few colorful flowers will bring attention where needed. You may also want to install some low voltage or Solar lighting to show off your hard work.
Once you have started the work you might find repairs that need to be taken care of or you might decide that you need to stain your deck or paint your house. These jobs will take a weekend at least individually.
The YouRepair Store has a full line of outdoor tools to help you get your jobs done.