As a kid I lived in a Cape Cod surrounded by walnut, maple, and white pine trees. My brother and I played a lot in the yard, rolling the walnuts across the street and up the neighbor’s driveway (a …
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As a kid I lived in a Cape Cod surrounded by walnut, maple, and white pine trees. My brother and I played a lot in the yard, rolling the walnuts across the street and up the neighbor’s driveway (a nature-based form of bowling that requires good-natured neighbors), and sneaking one yard over to explore the 120-year-old farmhouse, which had things like an open well and so much shady, wild plant life it felt like the Secret Garden.
That one side of our white house was stained green, and that you couldn’t touch the garage without white powder coming off on your hands, we noticed, but no one fixed.
If you find yourself in this kind of situation today, there are solutions, and Dylan Wertz will bring them to you.
Kalona-based Wertz launched Wertz Property Solutions this spring; the business specializes in exterior residential and commercial cleaning.
“Siding, roofs, gutters, concrete, anything that would be on the exterior side of the house,” he says. “We’re trying to build off very simple things that are not necessarily the hardest tasks, but people don’t have time, or they might be getting older and they just need help with. But the main thing is that we’re doing them right.”
We can’t stop our homes and businesses from getting dirty. Dust and pollen are going to collect; vehicle exhaust is going to leave residue; high humidity is going to feed moss and algae.
“It’s not like an embarrassing thing, but it’s things that do need cleaned, and a lot of people just maybe don’t know how to do it or have the equipment to do it,” Wertz says. “It can be an expensive weekend project, or you can save the money and we can do it probably for less than what someone would have to go and invest in all the equipment to do it right.”
Wertz has built a trailer outfitted with 200-foot hoses and a 250-gallon water tank which allows him to clean properties efficiently. When he arrives on site, he begins by taping off electrical components, hooking up the water, and taking care to protect plants and landscaping with both pre- and post-wash rinses. From there, he assesses what kind of wash is needed, mixes the appropriate chemical solution, and gets to work. The average house might be a four-to-five-hour job, he says.
“We use a method called soft washing, which is using a very low pressure but higher volume of water,” Wertz says. “We let the chemical do its work, and then we slowly rinse off all the chemical without putting high pressure on a house. Siding and windows weren’t really made for high pressure.”
While he does have high pressure washing available for areas like concrete driveways and patios, when it comes to houses, “We try to soft wash everything, and it’s a very gentle rinse to a house while we’re killing all the mold and algae and bacteria growing on it. And then we’ll run into other things such as rust, where we have the right solution to use for that.”
Ideally, homeowners will schedule a wash every two to three years, Wertz says. “It’s just a routine maintenance thing that we want to try to stay on and build with clients and show the importance of it before they have permanent damage, because we can’t fix neglect.”
Why does siding turn white?
Before talking with Wertz, I didn’t know why our garage was covered in white powder. I thought it was just a quirk of 1970s aluminum siding, but it turns out it’s a quirk of all siding.
“Oxidation is a big thing that breaks down the siding and the paint with heat, so you might rub your hand on it and you might have like a white powder, and that’s oxidation,” he explains. “It’s a very normal thing on a house, and if you have it, it’s not the end of the world. But if you wash it wrong, it can dry very streaky and blotchy, and then you can almost make the side of your house look worse after it dries.”
I look this up online and discover just how different the color of siding can be after oxidation is properly cleaned off. Colors go from hazy and muted – literally chalky – to richer and clear. And getting this kind of result – a house that looks new – is exactly why people are calling Wertz.
“The big thing is keeping a house alive and keeping the curb appeal there,” he says.
“Another big thing that we’ve been called for is people getting ready to sell their homes, and they just need a little freshen-up before the realtor comes and takes pictures,” he continues. “We’re really trying to improve that first [impression] for the buyer.”
One more occasion on which you may wish to have your house cleaned: before painting.
“[Homeowners will] give me a date. I try to keep it as close as possible to their date, so we don’t wash today and they’re not going to paint for three months. That would kind of defeat the purpose,” he says.
You’ll note his business is named ‘Wertz Property Solutions,’ and that was intentional. As the business grows, Wertz intends to add additional services, such as window cleaning.
This fall, folks might take him up on gutter cleaning, another simple task homeowners might not want to spend their weekend doing, especially if they don’t care for precarious ladders and unexpected wildlife.
As for Wertz, he loves this stuff. Not only does his business allow him the flexibility needed to be dad to three kids under three (there’s a twin set in there) and husband to Michelle, who travels often, but “It’s something I enjoy doing,” he says. “You can see your progress as you’re working, and it’s like instant gratification for me. . . I love to do things where I can constantly see my progress.”
A clean house is progress for everyone.
Now if you could just get those kids to pick up the walnuts.
Wertz Property Solutions
Kalona, IA
319-325-3555
wertzpropertysolutions@gmail.com
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