How to Prepare Your Home for Hurricane Season in Central Florida
August 06, 2026Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, and around here it is the back half that usually gets interesting. That is also when most homeowners start looking hard at the outside of the house, which is understandable and a little late. The work that actually protects a Central Florida home takes a few hours on a calm weekend. It is close to impossible to get done in the two days after a storm gets a name.
This is a plain guide on how to prepare your home for hurricane season, and it skips the part you already have handled. You know about water, batteries and fuel. This is the outside of the house: gutters, roof, screen cage, drains, and the surfaces that turn into real problems when six inches of rain lands in one afternoon. We are a family owned, fully insured mobile crew based in the Winter Garden area, and this is the list we work through on our own homes.
Why It Pays to Prepare Your Home for Hurricane Season Early
Most storm damage in Central Florida is not a tree through the roof. It is water finding a path it should never have had. A gutter packed with oak litter overflows down the fascia and into the soffit. A downspout that dumps at the foundation sends water under the slab edge. A blocked yard drain turns a side yard into a pond for three days. None of it makes the news, and all of it costs money.
The other reason to move early is scheduling. The moment a system enters the Gulf, every gutter crew, roofer, tree service and pressure washing company in the metro fills up, and nobody is climbing a ladder in 40 mile per hour gusts anyway. When you prepare your home for hurricane season in May or June, you are choosing the date. When you wait, the weather chooses it for you.
There is a quieter benefit too. Cleaning puts eyes on every surface of the house. Half the loose flashing and cracked tile we find turns up because somebody was washing, not inspecting.
Start With the Gutters and Downspouts
Gutters are the highest return item on the list. A modest Central Florida roof sheds well over a thousand gallons in one afternoon storm, and the gutter system decides whether that water lands in the yard or behind your fascia. Oak catkins, pine needles and year round leaf litter mean our gutters clog faster than most.
Three things to check. First, the troughs, which should be clear enough to see the bottom. Second, the downspouts, where most true blockages hide. Pour a bucket of water in at the top and watch what comes out the bottom, because a packed downspout looks perfectly fine from the roof. Third, where the water goes once it leaves the spout. Extensions that discharge four to six feet out are cheap and make a real difference on a flat lot.
If yours have not been touched in a year, our gutter cleaning service is quoted by the size of the home and the pitch of the roof. Get it done before the season, then plan on a second pass in late fall once the leaf drop is over.
The Roof, and Why Soft Washing Is the Only Option
Those black streaks on a Florida roof are a bacteria called gloeocapsa magma. It feeds on the limestone filler in asphalt shingles and holds moisture against the surface long after the rain stops. On tile it grows into a mat that traps water in the valleys. Neither is what you want going into the wettest stretch of the year.
The important part: a roof gets soft washed, never pressure washed. Soft washing means low pressure and a cleaning solution doing the work, so nothing is blasted, lifted or stripped. High pressure on shingles removes the protective granules and takes years off the roof. On tile it drives water up under the courses. We only soft wash roofs, and we would rather turn down a job than power wash one. Roof cleaning is priced by the size of your home, and the instant estimator on our site will give you the number.
One honest note. We clean roofs, we do not repair them. What we can do is tell you what we saw from up close: a lifted shingle, a cracked tile, an exposed nail head. If that comes up in June you have time to get a roofer out. If it comes up in October you are negotiating with a tarp.
How to Prepare Your Home for Hurricane Season Around the Pool
Screen enclosures take a beating in a storm, and a dirty cage takes more of one. Mesh loaded with algae, pollen and leaf litter catches wind and water instead of letting it pass, and the extra load goes straight into the spline and the frame. Clear mesh sheds. Clogged mesh sails.
Screens get soft washed as well, for the same reason roofs do. Pressure stretches the weave, pops the spline out of its channel, and tears panels that were otherwise fine. A pool screen enclosure is $100 flat with us. The pool deck runs about $200 depending on size and is worth doing at the same time, because algae on a deck gets genuinely slick once the rain starts.
While you are back there, trim anything overhanging the cage. Branches that clear the frame in calm air will not clear it in a squall.
Driveways, Walkways and Where the Water Actually Goes
This one surprises people. The curb line in front of your house is part of the storm drainage system, and a curb packed with soil, grass and organic buildup narrows the channel that carries water to the drain. Same for the gutter pan at the street. Clearing it is not cosmetic on a street that floods.
Our pressure washing pricing is straightforward: a standard two car driveway is $195, a sidewalk adds $50, and the curb adds $50. Our minimum visit is $200, so nearly everyone bundles. If you are in our home territory, the Winter Garden page has the local detail.
Two free jobs while you are out there. Pull the leaf mat off the storm drain grate nearest your house, because a grate that is mostly blocked is why the intersection ponds. And check that any yard drains or pop up emitters are clear and not buried under three years of mulch.
Stucco, Siding and Glass
Stucco and painted siding get soft washed too, not blasted. The value here is less protection than what the wash reveals: chalky paint, hairline cracks, failed caulk around a window frame and soft trim all show up on a clean wall and hide under green film. Our soft washing for a house is priced by living area through the estimator.
Glass matters for a specific reason. If you put up shutters or panels over dirty windows, you are pressing grit against the glass for however long the panels stay on, and wind vibration turns that grit into fine scratches. Clean glass also lets you see a cracked seal or a fogged pane before it becomes a rain entry point. Exterior window cleaning starts at $10 per window.
The Week Before and the Week After
Once a storm is tracking toward Central Florida, the exterior list gets short and physical. Bring in or tie down anything that can move: patio furniture, cushions, planters, garbage cans, the grill, yard tools. Photograph every side of the house from the ground, because that time stamped set of photos is the easiest insurance documentation you will ever create. Then leave the roof alone.
Afterward, expect the gutters to be full again. Rinse organic debris off before it bakes on, and be ready for algae, because the humid still week after a storm is when growth explodes on every surface you own. And do not climb a wet roof for any reason. Nothing up there is worth it the day after a hurricane.
Hurricane Season Prep: Common Questions
When should I prepare my home for hurricane season in Central Florida?
May is the ideal month, before the season opens on June 1 and before the summer storm pattern settles in. In practice, any calm weekend is better than none. What you want to avoid is calling for gutter or roof work once a storm has a name, because every crew in Orange, Lake and Osceola county is booked solid at that point and the weather window is gone.
Should I pressure wash my roof before hurricane season?
No. Shingles, tile and metal all get soft washed, which means low pressure and a cleaning solution that kills the growth chemically. High pressure strips granules off asphalt shingles, drives water up under tile, and can turn a sound roof into a leaking one right before the wettest months of the year. Soft washing is the only method we use on a roof.
How much does it cost to clean the outside of a house before a storm?
A standard two car driveway is $195, a sidewalk adds $50, and the curb line adds $50. A pool deck runs about $200 and a pool screen enclosure is $100 flat. Exterior windows start at $10 each. Our minimum visit is $200, so most homeowners bundle two or three items into one trip. House soft washing and roof cleaning are priced by the size of the home through the estimator on our site.
Is it better to clean up before or after a hurricane?
Both have a place, but if you only do one, do it before. Cleaning beforehand is prevention: clear gutters move water off the house, a clear screen cage sheds debris, and a clean roof gives you a chance to spot a lifted shingle while there is still time to call a roofer. Afterward is cleanup, and cleanup can wait a week. Prevention cannot.
Getting It Handled Before the Next One
If you want the outside squared away, the fastest route is the instant estimator on our site. Put in your details and you get real numbers for the roof, the house, the driveway, the screen cage and the windows in about a minute, with no phone call and no sales visit. From there you can book online, or call or text us at (407) 926-0028 if you would rather talk it through.
We are a family owned, fully insured mobile crew working out of the Winter Garden area, and we would rather tell you your roof can wait another year than sell you something you do not need. The best time to prepare your home for hurricane season was May. The second best time is the next clear weekend on your calendar.