The lyrics to the Beatles song “Here Comes the Sun” never feel quite right to me. Their less-than-enthusiastic review of the coming of the Sun as being just “ALRIGHT” doesn’t seem to do the Sun justice. “Awesome” is more like it, as our fellow St Louisans seem to understand in the run-up to the upcoming solar eclipse.
That’s not to say EVERYTHING about the Sun is perfect. If it were, many of you might strip naked and spend all of your time outdoors. But that comes with its own set of problems, like skin cancer, and a knock on the door from your subdivision trustees.
Sad but true, but one of the reasons we build houses at all is to PROTECT ourselves from the Sun. Which leads to the question of who is going to protect OUR HOUSES from the Sun. That’s on you as a homeowner, so here are the things to look out for.
Deck Boards & Outside White Trim
Exposure to excess sunlight and heat can dry-out and break down the wood fibers on your deck, and also in the white trim outside your house that surrounds doors and windows. Fix St Louis can replace those deteriorated boards. And for a more permanent, Sun-proof fix, we can substitute plastic-based boards made of vinyl, PVC, or composite materials.
Windows
It’s nice to have big windows to enjoy the view outside and to allow a lot of sunlight into a room. But big windows come with problems, like sending blinding light to your eyes, fading carpeting or upholstery, or heating-up a room too much. Most folks deal with these problems by having Fix St Louis hang window blinds and shades.
But blinds and shades cut back on the view from windows and the amount of light coming in. A better, but usually overlooked alternative is having a window TINTED, so you can still enjoy the view and let in more of the light. This alternative is often overlooked because folks are confused by its name, and also because they don’t realize that tinting a window is NOT something that must be done when a window is manufactured, but can be done at any time. Unlike the type of tinting that folks are most familiar with, which might involve adding a liquid to another liquid, window tinting is about installing a thin solid sheet of film over the glass. Fix St Louis can do this, too.
Weeds
This is something you might never associate with Fix St Louis, but we see a lot of situations where Sun is shining into unintended places and making weeds grow. Like in exposed crawlspaces beneath bumped-out bay windows, and below decks and deck stairs. Fix St Louis can install vinyl lattice, composite boards, and other weatherproof materials to keep the Sun out and hide those areas.
Problems Where the Sun Don’t Shine
OK, your humble correspondent has been hard on the Sun up to this point. But NOT having enough Sun in some of the outside areas of your house can ALSO be a problem. Have you seen gray mildew on your vinyl siding, most likely on the north side of your house or under porch roofs because they get less Sun? Fix St Louis can powerwash these areas to get your vinyl siding clean again.
Yeah, all in all I think we’re gonna want to hold onto the Sun. Maybe we won’t mind losing it for a few minutes during the total eclipse. But I don’t think we’d like a world without a gravitational pull that keeps us from drifting with the asteroids, getting an occasional suntan, or for that matter being alive at all. So, let’s resolve to live with the Sun — but occasionally bring in Fix St Louis to help deal with it.
Dr Steve
Fix St Louis