Exterior Cleaning Benefits

Pat Tenpas knows the last thing anyone wants to see when they look past the for-sale sign in her yard is a mess of spider webs and bird droppings, dirty windows and clogged gutters. On a hot, muggy day last week, the Oshkosh woman called in professionals from Serwas Window Cleaning to give her large home an exterior face lift. After spending Wisconsin’s long winter down south, the local resident returned to cluttered gutters, spotty windows and siding and a few remnants that proved pesky critters had taken up residence. “I noticed the eaves troughs were filled still with a lot of leaves and mud from fall, and the outside, I think, still had spider webs and everything on them from fall, too, or the end of summer that didn’t get washed off,” Tenpas, 63, said. The Serwas crew left Tenpas’ awnings, windows and skylights clear. It was perfect timing, she said, as the Oshkosh native’s for-sale sign arrived a day later.“The house is nice and clean … it looks totally awesome,” she said. Tenpas said she recommends homeowners consider a good outdoor cleaning at least annually, maybe twice a year, especially if they live — like she does — in an area boasting plentiful trees. “There gets to be a lot of pine needles and trees in the eaves troughs, and water that’s coming straight down onto the house and making it dirty,” she said. “I think (cleaning) adds to your house; it has more curb appeal.”Serwas Window Cleaning co-owner Bob Serwas said the company gets plenty of local calls to power wash windows and siding, spray for spiders, clean gutters and remove lake-fly residue. “With such a bad winter, windows were so dirty,” he said. “Business just exploded when the weather got nicer, even though with gas prices so high people are holding off, wanting to go with a fall (cleaning).” Serwas said homeowners reap many benefits from taking the spring-cleaning mentality outdoors — from health to home-selling. “If things pile up around houses, it can mold and rot, cause critters to show up, other insects,” said Serwas, whose business also does a lot of jobs for local real estate agents to ready a home for resell. This month, Serwas said, he also has seen an increase in calls about a particular seasonal concern. “We’re starting to get calls for bees and wasps all over the house,” he said. “We’ll knock down mud nests, we can also take care of bees nests, paper nests, underground nests; there are a lot of babies that just hatched and are trying to feed, so they’re all over.”And this is one case where calling in the experts can be beneficial, he says. “That one’s kind of a dangerous situation; we’ve been stung,” he said with a laugh.

On the left is Billy Broderick and on the ground is Paul Daubert who work for Serwas Window Cleaning power was the gutters and siding of a home on Shorehaven Court.