Thanksgiving is four weeks out. If people are coming to your house this year, the first thing they see is the driveway, then the front walk, then whatever side of the house faces the street. In Cumming and the north Atlanta suburbs, all three have had a full summer and a leaf season to get dirty, and November is the easiest month of the year to get them clean. Here is why, what to expect on each surface, and how to get it done before the first guests pull in.
Why November is the right month
Fall is the driest season in north Georgia. October and November bring the fewest rainy days of the year across Forsyth, north Fulton, Hall, Cherokee and Gwinnett counties, and the humidity finally drops. That matters for exterior cleaning in two ways. A dry week means we can schedule without a weather bump, and dry air means concrete and siding dry fast once we are done, instead of sitting damp for a day the way they do in July.
Temperatures are the other reason. The afternoons are still mild, the first frost usually arrives in November, and we clean on any day above freezing. By mid-December the days are short and cold mornings leave standing water on shaded concrete, so the window between now and Thanksgiving is the comfortable one.
The driveway: leaf tannin and red clay
A north Atlanta driveway at the end of October has two stains on it that were not there in June.
The first is leaf tannin. Wet oak, hickory and sweet gum leaves that sit on concrete for a week leave brown outlines, and a leaf pile at the edge of the drive leaves a dark patch. The tannin soaks into the concrete, so a hose and a broom spread it rather than lifting it.
The second is red clay. Tires track it up from the yard, the lawn crew blows it across the apron, and a summer of thunderstorms washes it down from any bare patch of the lot. The iron in Piedmont clay leaves an orange stain on concrete that gets harder to remove the longer it sits. Both come up with the right surface cleaner and a pre-treatment.
Driveway cleaning is priced by width on our prices page: $99 for a one-car driveway, $149 for two cars, $199 for three, and $249 for four or more. Each one includes the walkway and an oil stain treatment. The driveway cleaning service page covers the method and what we do on pavers versus poured concrete.
Siding: the green side of the house
Walk around to the north side of the house. On most homes in Cumming, Alpharetta and Suwanee, that is where the vinyl or hardiplank has turned a faint green since spring. It is algae, and it grows where the siding stays shaded and damp: the north face, under deep eaves, and behind shrubs tight against the wall. Black streaks under the windows and along the bottom course are the same thing plus mildew.
Algae on siding is not a pressure problem, it is a chemistry problem, and that is why we soft wash houses instead of blasting them. A soft wash puts a low-pressure cleaning solution on the siding, lets it kill the growth, and rinses at close to garden-hose pressure. High pressure on vinyl forces water behind the panels and into the sheathing, scars hardiplank, and can lift paint on trim. It also leaves the algae spores, so the green comes back in a few months. The soft wash takes it off and keeps it off longer.
House washing is priced by square footage: $249 for a home up to 1,500 square feet, $349 up to 2,500, $449 up to 3,500, and $599 up to 5,000. A three-story home adds $150. The residential exterior cleaning page lists what the wash covers, including trim, soffits and window frames.
Walkways, steps and the front porch
The front walk and steps are the surfaces guests actually touch, and they are the slick ones. A shaded concrete walk under oaks grows the same green and black film the siding does, and with November dew on it in the morning it is slippery. Clean concrete is not. A patio or sidewalk cleaning is $149 per area, and a paver walkway is $249 because the joint sand has to be protected while the algae comes out from between the pavers.
Decks come up in November too, since the back deck is where the overflow crowd ends up on a mild afternoon. Wood and composite deck cleaning both start at $249.
How long things take to dry
This is the question we get most in the fall, usually because someone wants to park the same day.
- Poured concrete driveway and walkway: dry to the touch in one to two hours of sun, full color by the end of the afternoon
- Pavers: a few hours, longer in the shade, and we ask you to keep cars off until the joint sand has set
- Vinyl and hardiplank siding: drips stop within the hour, surface dry the same afternoon
- Wood decks: overnight before furniture goes back, a dry day or two before any stain or sealer
On a dry November day with a breeze, everything above is done by the time you get home from work. A cloudy day in the low 50s pushes the deck and shaded concrete to the next morning.
A pre-holiday checklist
If you want to do the walk-around yourself before you call, here is what we look at from the curb:
- Driveway: brown leaf outlines, orange clay at the apron, oil spots where cars park
- Front walk and steps: green film in the shade, black edges along the lawn
- Siding: green on the north face, black streaks under the windows and along the bottom course
- Gutters: black vertical streaks on the gutter face, which is a gutter whitening add-on, not a repair
- Deck or patio: dark boards where the furniture sat all summer
Three or more of those and the Complete Home Refresh Package at $599 is usually the better deal than booking surfaces one at a time. The prices page has the full list.
Scheduling before Thanksgiving
The two weeks before Thanksgiving are the busiest of the fall, and the holiday week itself is short. Booking in the first half of November gets you a weekday slot and leaves time for everything to dry before people arrive. Early December, before the lights go up, is the second-best window.
We are based in Cumming, and the fall route runs through Alpharetta, Milton, Johns Creek, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Buford, Canton and Woodstock. The Cumming pressure washing and Alpharetta pressure washing pages describe the lots and siding types we see most in each area.
Call or text (470) 747-6669 with your address, the size of the house and what you want cleaned, and we will give you a flat price and a date on the spot. Or send the details through the contact page and we will reply the same day. Either way, the driveway and the front of the house will be clean before the first car pulls in.
