Spring clean your home's exterior

As spring reveals itself after a long winter, so too, does the need to begin outdoor chores for warmer weather. Just like spring cleaning inside the house, sprucing and rejuvenating lawns, gardens, garages, driveways and other exterior areas this time of year is a way to get organized and start anew.

For homeowners, outdoor spring cleaning and chores involve utilizing the proper tools and equipment as well as creating an organized space in which to work. The Rapid Reel brand of hose reel products has been developed to simplify the use of garden, power wash and air hoses.

Pressure-washing surfaces is an effective way to see immediate results on patios, walkways, garages, or decks with embedded grime, However, for outdoor places that are coated in winter's leftover dust or early spring pollen, simply rinsing with a garden hose can do the trick.

It seems no one tool is more useful for outdoor work than the garden hose. But hoses can be awkward to lug around the landscape and difficult to store. An improperly stored hose can fall victim to kinks, tears and warps. If these troubles weren't enough, hoses can be difficult to wind and tend to unravel. And a tidy exterior is less likely to invite unwanted mishaps or accidents.

Wall reels mount easily to the side of a house or garage, and the hose easily winds and unwinds with the turn of a break-resistant crank handle. Other reels have two or four wheels, alleviating the need to carry a hose from front to back yard.

Depending on the type of tool or piece of equipment, it makes sense to store some products out in the open in an organized fashion. With other tools, it is simply best to keep them in a shed or other enclosed storage space. The key is to know the difference and adhere to this throughout the season.

Those that are portable, such as garden tool caddies, can be left outdoors for trouble-free transportation as they are needed. Fixed or mounted equipment, such as 10-by-20-foot shelving units, standard-size cabinets or wall-mount hose reels, such as the 150-foot parallel or perpendicular wall reel, are conveniently permanent to a particular locale. Setting up an apparatus like these allows for straightforward usage and the benefit of additional floor, deck or garage space.

By adding a pegboard for wall-mounting tools, handheld gear can often be affixed to a surface in a less permanent fashion and can be relocated to another area at a later date, if desired. Pruners, pliers and other small utensils are often made with a handle, so hang-storing can be a means of additional organization.

To learn more about Rapid Reel and the company's garden, power-wash and air-hose reel options, log on to www. rapidreel. com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent