How to Remove Ash from My Home’s Windows and Exterior?

With fire season in full force this time of year in California, you may find yourself in the unfortunate situation of needing to remove ash from your home. While you could try to remove it yourself, ash is not the easiest thing to clean off, nor is it safe to do on your own. The best way to remove ash from your home after a recent fire is to trust an expert team to do it for you.

Experts Have the Right Tools to Remove Ash

One of the top reasons to reach out to an expert window and exterior cleaning team like ASF Clean Team is because we have the best tools to get the job done.

Our tools aren’t your standard squeegee, rag, and bucket you get from your local grocery store. From water-fed poles to pressure washing to window cleaning equipment, our CWC Supply tools are professionally designed for deep cleaning and for reaching those tough-to-reach places. Ash on your home is no match for what’s on our toolbelt!

Cleaning Ash Up High

You love your two-story home in the San Francisco Bay area and it’s disheartening to see it dusted with ash and debris from a nearby fire. You may be tempted to clean your home’s exterior yourself, but you don’t want to risk climbing a ladder or attempting to remove ash from your home—trust an expert to do that!

Along with having all of the right tools, ASF Clean Team is thoroughly trained in safety and is certified with OSHA, plus is licensed and insured. We have the skills and tools needed to reach your second-story windows and roofs, so you don’t have to put yourself in danger just to clean your home’s exterior.

Hard Water and Ash Don’t Mix

California’s hard water will likely not mix well with the ash. Even if you do manage

A better plan will be to let ASF Clean Team do the job for you! We have state-of-the-art power washing and pressure washing equipment with a filter system. This means the water that comes through our equipment is filtered to be the cleanest, freshest water around—no more cleaning with hard water. Our equipment and cleaning solutions will ensure a deeper and better clean ash from your home.

Toxic-Free Cleaning Solutions

At ASF Clean Team, we are proud that our cleaning solutions are toxic-free. When we say clean, we really mean it—we don’t want our cleaning solutions to be harmful to you or your home! 

If you try cleaning the ash off your home yourself, you run the risk of inhaling it or having it come into contact with your skin. Our cleaning solutions not only deeply remove ash and other debris, but they also do so safely, so you don’t need to worry about harsh chemicals mingling with ash and causing a bad reaction. 

Remove Ash with ASF Clean Team

When it comes to removing ash from your home, professional help is always the best plan. ASF Clean Team is here to help you ensure the entire exterior of your home is clean and ready to go. We can use different techniques for different spots of your home to ensure everything is as clean as possible. We offer free quotes on windows, gutters, roofs, solar panels, and so much more. Reach out today to find out more about the services we offer and how we can help you get your home clean after a wildfire.

How to Keep Your Windows from Getting Dusty

No matter where you live in California, the chances of your windows getting dusty is high. San Francisco is no exception. Between the traffic pollution, ash during wildfire season, and grass drying out in the hillsides in summer, California is just really dusty! And that dust loves to collect on our windows.

There are various reasons to try to keep your windows dust-free and we have several preventative methods to share with you.

3 Reasons to Keep Your Windows Dust-Free

Preventing dust on your windows is important for preventing allergies, respiratory concerns, and diseases.

1. Allergies

No one likes suffering from constant sneezing, a runny nose, itchy eyes, and coughing. Keeping your windows from getting dusty is an important step in ensuring an allergy-free home.

2. Respiratory Concerns

With less dust on your windows, that means a lesser chance of aggravating respiratory issues, especially in people with asthma.

3. Disease

Dust on windows contains the potential to host airborne viruses that could infect people living inside the home if the windows aren’t cleaned.

4 Dust Preventative Methods for Your Windows

Here are some preventative cleaning techniques that you can use to get rid of mild exterior and interior dust on your windows:

1. Dust Repellant

Purchasing a good dust repellant that is specifically designed for windows can be a good way to have your windows looking dust-free for longer periods of time. If your windows are in hard-to-reach areas that require a ladder, consider giving us a call to do the job for you.

2. Air Purifier

If you begin noticing a large accumulation of dust on your windows shortly after they have been cleaned, consider checking your air filter. Air filters should be changed on a regular basis, and if they aren’t, they could potentially get clogged up and won’t do their job properly.

3. Window Screens

Window screens can act as a primary barrier for your windows. While window screens are great at preventing bugs and other pests from entering a home, they are also good at preventing dust from accumulating on the windows. 

4. Hire Professional Routine Window Cleaning Services

window cleaner cleaning dusty windows with a water-fed pole
ASF Clean Team professional cleaning a dusty window with a water-fed pole.

One of the best ways to keep your windows from getting dusty is by getting ASF Clean Team to do routine cleaning. We provide both interior and exterior window cleaning services, and our services aren’t just limited to the glass pane.

Dust, debris, and allergens have the tendency to build up inside the window frames, sills, tracks, and screens. That’s why we do a deep clean that will end up making the overall air quality inside your home much safer and healthier. 

You won’t have to worry about the safety of the products we use to clean your windows. Every product we use is environmentally-friendly and biodegradable, yet very effective at the same time. 

It doesn’t matter if your windows have a 1-inch layer of dust, or are covered in paint and silicon after you’ve just gone through a renovation project. We’ll have them looking pristine. To ensure that, we always provide before and after photos for you on every job we do.

If you have any questions or concerns about what to expect from ASF Clean Team, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. You won’t even need to stick around while we are on the premises cleaning your windows, and you can surely expect a sparkling finish when you arrive.

How to Get a Cleaner Office Exterior

Now that spring cleaning’s over, your office interior is sparkling. But how can you get a cleaner office exterior? Your office exterior is the first thing visitors see, so it’s just as important to keep it clean as the interior. With ASF Clean Team, we can help you nail that first impression every time.

Enjoy a Crystal Clear View

Whether you’re in the San Francisco or Sacramento area, your office likely has an amazing view. And that doesn’t come for free. When you chose to open your office in either Californian city, you knew there may be cheaper options elsewhere, but this is where you wanted to be. Not only does it create an amazing environment for you and your employees, but your visitors as well.

At ASF Clean Team, we specialize in commercial cleaning, including high rise window washing. No matter how high your office is, we can clean your windows, window frames, and even the tracks and sills, all in one service. So, you, your employees, and your visitors can all enjoy the crystal clear view you pay for, and you don’t have to worry about cleaning all the little parts.

Get a Cleaner Office Exterior with Pressure Washing

Your windows aren’t the only thing visitors are going to notice, though. In fact, they’ll probably notice the rest of your office exterior more. But, you’re in luck. At ASF Clean Team, we do so much more than just window washing.

For example, we also offer pressure washing, power washing, and soft washing services. All three of these are similar methods used to clean different parts of your office’s exterior. For example, we may use pressure washing for your siding, power washing for your sidewalk, and soft washing for your roof if you have a standalone office building. And the best part is, you can schedule your services all at once so we clean the building’s exterior and windows at the same time, saving you both time and money.

Maintain Your Historic Office Building

One of the best parts of San Francisco and Sacramento is all the history. In fact, your office may even be in a historic office building. Maintaining a historic office building comes with different rules and regulations than a typical building. Since we’re a locally-owned business, we know those rules and regulations all too well. We will ensure we gently clean your historic building to help maintain it for years to come.

Schedule Exterior Cleaning Services with ASF Clean Team

Whether you’re in a standalone office building or a high rise, in Sacramento or San Francisco, ASF Clean Team has you covered. We can take care of your window washing and any other exterior cleaning, all in one scheduled service. Plus, all of our employees are professionally trained and insured, so you can rest easy while we do our work. Give us a call today to get a quote and schedule your services. If you set up a three-year contract with us, we’ll lock in your pricing and even throw in cobweb removal for free.

How to Maximize Commercial Solar Panel Efficiency

You made a big investment in your business when you decided to install solar panels. Solar panels are not a small purchase, but over time they will help you save money. You noticed this at first. Your power was working great, and your energy bill was decreasing. But now, things are starting to slow down. Your electricity isn’t working as well, but your bill is going up. Do you already need new solar panels? Before you make any rash decisions, let’s discuss how you can maximize the efficiency of your commercial solar panels.

What methods maximize commercial solar panel efficiency?

The easiest method to maximize the efficiency of your solar panels is to keep them clean. No matter where your solar panels are located, they’re going to collect dust and dirt. As the dust and dirt pile up, there is a greater barrier between your solar panels and the sun, decreasing efficiency.

As long as you’re keeping your solar panels clean, you shouldn’t have any issues with efficiency. But, you need to make sure you’re cleaning your solar panels correctly. Many people think that the rain will take care of any cleaning that needs to be done since solar panels are outdoors. It’s not quite that convenient, though.

What does your car look like after the rain? Rain water is dirty itself, and it just rearranges the dirt on your car (and your solar panels). So, you may think about just using hose water or a bucket of soapy water and a rag. That’s not going to be super effective, either, because the unfiltered soap and water is going to leave behind residue. Even if it’s a smaller layer than the dirt, you’re still not maximizing the efficiency of your solar panels.

So how do I clean my solar panels?

The easiest way to maximize the efficiency of your commercial solar panels is to have them cleaned professionally. And if you live in the San Francisco or Sacramento areas, the easiest way is to call ASF Clean Team.

At ASF Clean Team, we have tools specially designed to clean your commercial solar panels. With these tools, we use only hot water and pressure to clean, so no soap residue is left behind. The tools filter the water as we clean, so you don’t have to worry about any mineral deposits from unfiltered water, either.

That’s not all, though. Our tools also clean your solar panels without leaving streaks behind. This means every inch of your solar panel is clean to truly maximize the efficiency of your solar panels. And, we have the equipment and experience to clean your solar panels wherever they’re located, even high on the building. We carry insurance for our employees, too, so you don’t have to worry about the possibility of an accident.

At ASF Clean Team, our goal is to leave your business sparkling. Whether you need your solar panels cleaned, another cleaning service, or a combination, we can’t wait to help you.

How to Get the Best Efficiency from Your Solar Panels in San Francisco

There are several reasons why people choose to install solar panels on their home. Solar panels are environmentally friendly, are energy efficient, and help you save money. But, solar panel owners tend to find that the longer they have solar panels, the less efficient they are. Why is that? Let’s talk through how to get the best efficiency from your solar panels. 

Why are my solar panels losing efficiency?

Over time, it may appear that your solar panels are losing energy efficiency. Your power isn’t working as well and your energy bills are going up. Solar panels were supposed to have the opposite effect, so what’s going on?

Solar panels typically don’t take much work to maintain. They’re built to be kept outside, which means they can withstand harsh elements. However, that doesn’t mean they’ll remain 100% functional if you just have them set up and forget about them. There is some minimum maintenance they need!

Like anything else, solar panels get dirty. This dirt and dust builds up and creates a barrier between the sun and your solar panels. You likely won’t notice a difference at first, but as dirt continues to build up, that barrier will get thicker. As the barrier thickens, less sunlight gets through to your solar panels and they become less efficient. So even though you don’t have to worry about a lot of maintenance for your solar panels, you do need to keep them clean to ensure the best efficiency. 

How do I keep my solar panels clean?

Keeping your solar panels clean is easier said than done. Not just any cleaning method will work. Some people will tell you that the rain can do the work for you, but that just isn’t true. The rain is dirty itself, and since it comes down in droplets, it will really just rearrange the dirt on your solar panels.

So what do you do then? Just clean it off with a hose? Well, that doesn’t really work, either. Your hose water will clean the dirt better than the rain, but it will leave mineral deposits behind, still creating a barrier between your solar panels and the sun.

So what’s the solution then? The best way to keep your solar panels clean and ensure the best efficiency is to have them professionally cleaned. And if you live in the San Francisco area, that means calling ASF Clean Team.

Solar panel cleaning with ASF Clean Team

At ASF Clean Team, we use professional tools specifically designed for solar panel cleaning. These tools filter the water as we clean your solar panels, so no mineral deposits or residue will be left behind. Our tools even help get a streak-free clean, which you wouldn’t be able to get with a hose or a towel. This means your solar panels will be sparkling like new.

Efficiency is a great benefit of solar panels, but they’re not efficient if they’re not clean. If you want to get the best efficiency out of your solar panels, and the best efficiency out of a cleaning team, get in touch with ASF Clean Team today.

How to Return Your Home to Normalcy After a Bout with COVID-19

It’s been almost two years since COVID-19 came into our lives, and it looks like it’s here to stay. Of course, there’s no way to know exactly what the future holds, but it’s best to be as prepared as we can be. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how you can return your home to normalcy after a bout with COVID-19. Whether you have COVID-19 currently or not, it’s important to look ahead and plan for the future.

Clean, Clean, and Clean Some More

When you’re sick, you have absolutely no motivation to clean. And we totally understand that. Your body needs time to fight off the illness, and that’s taking all of your energy. But, once you get better, it’s time to start cleaning.

After a bout with COVID-19, you should clean your home like you normally do after illness. Clean the furniture and the floors. Change your toothbrush. Actually wash your emotional support water bottle. Clean everything you normally wouldn’t clean, and then some.

However, unlike any other illness, you may want some additional cleaning after a bout with COVID-19. Even though you just recovered from it, your house probably still feels icky. It’s almost like you can feel it lingering in the air. So, for a little extra touch, request ASF Clean Team’s disinfecting and sanitizing services. We only use the best products to make sure everything is sparkling clean, and our team wears full protective equipment (including masks) to help make sure we don’t bring any new germs into your home. 

Get Some Sunlight

Vitamin D is vital for both your mental and physical health. After being stuck in your home for a few weeks after a bout with COVID-19, you need sunlight more than ever. So, take some time and get outside into the bright sunshine. Go for a walk. Have a picnic. Play with your kids. Get out there and enjoy the sun.

If you don’t want to get outside, though, you can get sunlight inside your home, too. While we’re disinfecting and sanitizing your home, take advantage of our window washing services as well. We’ll clean your windows inside and out. Our tools are expertly designed to clean windows without leaving streaks behind, so your windows are as clean as when you first got them. Those clean windows allow more sunlight to come in, and you can get some more vitamin D from inside your home as well.

Return Your Home to Normalcy with ASF Clean Team

After a bout with COVID-19, it can be hard to think about what it’s like to return to normal. You may still be feeling the lasting effects of the illness, but you have to move on anyway. With ASF Clean Team, you can return your home to normalcy. Our disinfecting, sanitizing, and window washing services will make your house feel like it’s brand new. We take your safety and our own safety seriously, so you are in great hands. Contact us today to learn more and get a quote for our residential cleaning services.

How to Protect Your Historic Home with a Gentle Clean

One of the amazing benefits of living in the San Francisco area is that many of us are able to live in historic homes. These homes have been around for decades and truly mean something to our community. It’s not just another house. And because of that, you need to treat it as such. Therefore, you need to protect your historic home with a gentle clean.

Protect Your Historic Home

When you live in a historic home, you are trusted with its upkeep. You are trusted to ensure that it remains historic and is not damaged (to the best of your ability) while under your care. Of course there are always circumstances that you do not have control over, but you can control the cleanliness of your historic home.

In order to protect your historic home, you need to keep it clean, inside and out. The more build up there is, the more likely your home is to be damaged. Letting dirt and debris pile up can negatively impact your home’s integrity. So even though you may not think the outside of your home needs to be cleaned, it does. 

Why a Gentle Clean?

Okay so your historic home needs to be kept clean to keep it in shape. But why a gentle clean? Why can’t you just go at it with your power washer?

Historic homes are not built like homes today are. These homes were designed before tools like power washers were invented, and were built before the cleaning chemicals used today were common. Plus, they’re just older. They are not made to withstand the harshness of a power wash, especially with chemicals. In fact, some of today’s houses shouldn’t even be power washed; they should be cleaned using a technique called soft washing.

What is Soft Washing?

Soft washing is very similar to pressure washing and power washing. In fact, it’s pretty much the same technique. The only difference is the pressure. Instead of a high pressure, soft washing uses low pressure.

The low pressure is going to help protect your historic home because it isn’t as harsh as the other methods. The water and our state-of-the-art equipment can get the job done while still maintaining the integrity of your home. On the other hand, if you used a higher pressure and, as a result, a harsher cleaning method, your home would be clean but possibly at the cost of its integrity. When there are methods for a gentle clean available that are just as effective and easy, there is no reason to try a more forceful method.

Request a Quote Today

At ASF Clean Team in San Francisco, we have plenty of experience cleaning and protecting historic homes. As a locally-owned, small business, we know how important maintaining a historic home is. If you’re unsure of the best cleaning method for your home, don’t worry. We’ll help you figure everything out. Contact us today to request a quote and prepare to bring back the beauty of your historic home.

Make Holiday Window Displays Shine with Window Washing

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Halloween has passed, Thanksgiving is here, and winter holidays are just around the corner. Many stores have already switched over to their holiday window displays. The one downside of a beautiful display, though, is fingers touching the glass while they excitedly point out their favorite views. Not to worry, though. You can make your holiday window displays shine with window washing.

How do windows get dirty anyway?

Before setting up your holiday display, you probably worked on cleaning your windows really well. After all, they need to be clean for people to enjoy your display. So how do they get dirty, especially on the inside, if you just cleaned them?

It’s pretty easy to understand how the outside of windows get dirty. People touch them. Bump into them. If your storefront is actually outside and not in a mall, nature does its work dirtying up your windows, too. But the inside is just a puzzle you can’t crack.

The inside of your windows get dirty just like the outside. They may not be as easy for people to touch, but you’ll still have dust pile up on them. And there will be some bumping, even if it’s just from you when you’re cleaning. 

But there’s another culprit you probably haven’t considered: your cleaning products. If you aren’t using professional window washing products, your cleaner will still leave some residue behind. And your windows won’t be as clean as they could be. At ASF Clean Team, we use eco-friendly cleaners and just plain water to get the job done. So, there won’t be any grime left behind.

How can you make holiday window displays shine?

Your holiday display is already set up and ready to go. So how are we going to make those windows shine without messing it up? The short answer is that we’re professionals. We’re not going to be climbing through your display with a bottle of window cleaner and some paper towels. 

Instead, we have professional equipment we use. This includes equipment with long necks, helping us clean those hard to reach places. We’ll use our equipment, water, and eco-friendly cleaning products to make your windows absolutely gleam. 

All of the grime and dust will be cleaned up from not just the window panes, but every part of the window. This means that your display can have all of the attention, not the dirt and grime. And our technique ensures that no streaks are left behind on the windows, like your basic window cleaner may leave.

Get ready for the holidays

You have so many things on your to-do list for the holidays. When you check your list twice, you can go ahead and cross “window washing” off. Just give ASF Clean Team a call. We’ll be happy to discuss your window washing needs and how we can make your holiday season a little bit easier. Or, if you prefer, you can get a free quote online. We hope to hear from you soon.

How We Remove (And Prevent!) Graffiti from Storefronts

We’ve all been there. You get to work early in the morning, ready to start your day, and there is graffiti all over your windows. Whether they’re obscenities or nice messages, graffiti is not the look you want for your business. But, you don’t have time to clean it before it’s time for your store to open, so you just have to leave it for the day and try to deal with it later. What if you could have kept the graffiti from damaging your actual building in the first place? Here’s how we remove (and prevent!) graffiti from storefronts.

Removing the Graffiti Quickly

If you’ve ever dealt with graffiti before, you know the key to removing it is to remove it quickly. Not only does it not look good for your business, but in the absolute worst case scenario, you could have to replace your windows due to the damage. We don’t want that to happen. When you call ASF Clean Team for graffiti removal, we will do our best to be there within 48 hours. This way, you don’t have to deal with it too long, and it shouldn’t cause irreversible damage to your storefront.

We will remove the graffiti by power washing your storefront. Power washing uses very hot water to clean the graffiti; there will be no chemicals used. This ensures that it’s safe for your windows, because chemicals really aren’t necessary, anyway. Power washing is an efficient way to remove the graffiti, so the job will be done much faster than if you try to do it yourself. Plus, we can help you prevent this issue in the future.

Stop the Damage Before It Happens

Okay, so we can’t stop people from actually spraying graffiti on your storefront. As much as we would love to, it’s just not possible. But, we can help stop the damage before it happens. In order to prevent graffiti, we install Avery Dennison® Universal Anti Graffiti Films. This is a clear film that goes on your windows to protect them from the paint; you won’t even notice it. If you unfortunately arrive to graffiti on your storefront, you can just easily clean it yourself with whatever cleaning supplies you have on hand. If you find scratches on the film, let us know, and we can replace it. This is much easier than power washing, or even replacing, your windows, and you can clean them a lot faster.

Get Ready to Prevent Graffiti Today

Now that you know how we remove (and prevent!) graffiti from storefronts, don’t wait to call ASF Clean Team for help. The longer you wait, the more likely you’ll find the dreaded graffiti on your store in the morning. Get ahead of it now and get in a bid to install anti-graffiti film on your storefront. That way, the next time you find graffiti, it’s not nearly as much of a pain. But if you do need help removing graffiti, give us a call, and we’ll be there as soon as we can.

How We Get a Chemical-Free Clean

“Chemical-free clean”. You’ve heard that phrase, but how can that actually be true? There is no way something can be clean without chemicals, right? Wrong! At ASF Clean Team, we’ve found that 99% of cleaning can be done without chemicals. But, you may be wondering, how do you do that? We’re here to explain how we get a chemical-free clean.

We Use Really Hot Water … Like Really Hot

Think about when you’re cleaning or cooking and you need hot water. You turn on the faucet, stick your finger in the water, and wait for the water to get hot enough that you can’t keep your finger in there any longer. You’ll probably see some steam coming from the faucet as well. That water’s pretty hot, right? Well, the water we use is much hotter than that. In fact, it’s hot enough to kill bacteria. Your sink water won’t get that hot, even when you can’t hold your finger under it any longer. That’s why you still have to boil water when under a boil advisory instead of just turning your faucet to the hottest setting. Without professional equipment and training, this level of hot water isn’t safe for you to clean your home or building with.

We Use State of the Art Equipment

Think of the last time you washed your windows or your mirror. Did you use the typical blue window cleaner with a paper towel or a rag? How well did that work? Probably not super well. Even though your window or mirror was clean, you were probably left with streaks on the glass. 

To help prevent this, ASF Clean Team uses state-of-the-art equipment, like the “Little Beast” from Pure Water Power. This equipment is designed to give your home the best clean with only water. The water dries clear and evenly, leaving you without streaky windows or mirrors.

This dry clean with no chemicals is especially important for solar panels. When your solar panels are dirty, the energy production is less efficient. So, if you use chemicals or non-professional equipment, your solar panels may end up with a film or residue that will still keep your solar panels from working as efficiently.

How You Can Get a Chemical-Free Clean

Now that you know how we get a chemical-free clean using really hot water and state of the art equipment, you may be wondering how you can get a chemical-free clean. Just contact ASF Clean Team! ASF Clean Team has been serving the San Francisco Bay Area since 2012, and we provide both residential and commercial cleaning services. The best part is, if you are only requesting exterior services, you don’t even have to be home! We’ll come and clean your building’s exterior, and when you return, you will see the sparkling finish. And, if you do need to be there during the service, we’ll text you reminders when we’re on our way.

If you’re ready to get a chemical-free clean, request an online request today. We can’t wait to provide you with the best clean you’ve seen.