Summerland exterior cleaning, ash included.

Wildfire ash cleanup for Summerland homes

When smoke settles over the south Okanagan, Summerland gets the fallout. The ash lands as a grey film on west-facing walls, windows, decks, patio furniture and the bottom of every gutter. On its own it's dust. Once the morning dew or the sprinklers wet it, it sticks.

Ash is mildly alkaline. Left on glass and painted surfaces through a few wet-and-dry cycles, it gets harder to shift and can dull the finish. The fix is to lift it, not scrub it: a low-pressure rinse, a soft wash on the walls so the solution does the work, and a proper clean on the glass.

• Siding and stucco soft washed, never blasted. High pressure drives fine ash into stucco and behind lap siding.
• Windows cleaned glass, frames and sills, so the film doesn't come straight back with the first rain.
• Gutters cleared by hand. Ash and needles together make a paste that blocks downspouts.
• Decks, patios and driveways washed so you're not walking it back into the house.

Every ash job is a little different, so there's no flat rate for it. Text us a photo and we'll price it, usually the same day.

The regular exterior work

Outside smoke season, Summerland homes pick up the same things as anywhere in the valley, plus a couple of local ones. Homes near orchards and vineyards collect fine dust at harvest. Irrigation and sprinkler overspray leaves mineral spotting on lower windows and the base of walls. Lakeside homes in Lowertown and along the water get algae on the shaded side faster than homes up the hill. Out in Trout Creek, Prairie Valley and Garnet Valley, it's pine needles in the gutters and pollen on everything each spring.

We price all of it the way we price Kelowna: by home size, published up front. No salesperson visit to find out a number.