A Naples exterior, month by month

Every job on this site runs against the same twelve months. NOAA keeps an official thirty-year average for Naples Municipal Airport, and the table below is the full set of monthly normals: rain, average temperature, normal high and normal low, month by month.

June, July, August and September add up to 32.67 inches of the 49.55 inches the twelve months in the table total, about 65.9 percent of the year's normal rain in four months. November, December, January and February sit at the other end, each under 1.70 inches.

August is the warmest month in the table, at an 83.3 F normal average; January is the coolest, at 65.3 F. The high and low columns are the part a monthly average hides: the normals run from a 55.9 F normal low in January to a 90.9 F normal high in August, and no month in the Naples normals averages below 65 F, which is the range a roof, a driveway and a set of windows sit in all year.

A second calendar sits on top of the rainfall table, and the two do not line up exactly.

The National Hurricane Center writes that “The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30,” and puts the season's climatological peak at September 10, “with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October.”

September, the table's second-wettest month at 8.60 inches, sits inside that same window. What the two calendars landing together mean for a roof, a driveway and a pane of glass is the subject of September in Naples.

Lawn irrigation runs on a fixed calendar. Washing a roof, a driveway or a set of windows does not.

Collier County Ordinance 2015-27, as published in the county's 311 knowledge base, states that “Other outdoor water uses, including car, truck, and boat washing, and the washing of exterior home surfaces and roofs, shall be allowed anytime with the use of Low Volume Pressure Cleaning Equipment, Low Volume Mobile Washing Equipment and/or water hose equipped with an automatic self-canceling or automatic shutoff nozzle.” The same section adds, “In all cases, the water used must drain to a pervious surface or to a water recycling/reuse system.”

Collier County adopted that rule April 28, 2015, alongside a fixed irrigation calendar: odd addresses Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, even addresses Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, with no irrigating on Fridays or between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. Exterior washing sits outside that calendar, provided the equipment and drainage rule above are both met.

Naples also sits inside the South Florida Water Management District, whose Chapter 40E-21 plan can add a further layer once a shortage phase is actually declared: its phase text limits outside pressure cleaning in a declared Phase I or II to low-volume equipment seven days a week, in Phase III to Monday through Friday, and in Phase IV to Monday and Wednesday, and the district's order declaring a phase can modify those restrictions, so the days in force are the order's. The same rule set also prohibits washing “streets, driveways, sidewalks, or other impervious areas with water,” a tension the rule text leaves open, and no published district interpretation reconciling the two was found for a paver driveway. The district's own landscape irrigation page, where it posts its current status, addresses irrigation only and does not speak to other outdoor water uses. These are not standing, everyday rules; the district and the water utility can say which are in force at the time, and the water rules that apply to a paver driveway sets both documents out side by side.

The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association's Algae Discoloration of Roofs bulletin writes that algae growth “occurs to varying degrees in all regions of the U.S. and southern regions of Canada, especially those subjected to warm, humid conditions.” Read against the table, the coolest monthly average in Naples is 65.3 F and the four heaviest rain months run June through September, which is where those two conditions overlap hardest. How soft washing works covers the method; the black streaks on a Naples roof covers the organism.

A paver runs on a different clock. ICPI's Tech Spec 5 states that “The cleaned surface must be completely dry prior to applying most sealers. Allow at least 24 hours without moisture or surface dampness before application.” The wettest four months make that window harder to find; the driest four make it easier. ICPI notes separately that where a pavement goes in during a dry period of the year, “the next cycle of wet weather may sometimes be necessary for efflorescence to materialize,” and that efflorescence “does not affect the structural performance or durability of concrete pavers.” How paver sealing works covers the rest of the sequence, including the second document that publishes the same 24 hour condition.

Glass runs on the site more than on the month. The National Glass Association's Glass Technical Paper FB01-00 states that “Cleaning frequencies should be tailored to the individual characteristics inherent to the site conditions, as well as the severity of local environmental factors”, which is why the interval is set house by house. How exterior glass gets cleaned covers the method; how often a particular window needs it depends on what that glass collects and how fast it collects it.

The same homeowner prep shows up in the trade bulletins quoted here, whatever the month. ICPI's Tech Spec 5 tells anyone cleaning or sealing pavers to “Turn off all automatic sprinkler systems during cleaning, sealing and drying,” and SEK-Surebond's instruction on its PolySweep polymeric sand data sheet is just as direct: “Do not install in rain and turn off irrigation systems.”

Glass has its own version, tied to heat rather than rain: the National Glass Association advises that “Cleaning tinted and reflective glass surfaces in direct sunlight should be avoided, as the surface temperature may be too hot for optimum cleaning,” and the PGT/CGI/WinDoor care guide's own tip is to “clean your glass during cooler temperatures without direct sunlight,” a real ask against an 83.3 F August normal.

On the roof side, ARMA's Algae and Moss Prevention and Cleaning for Asphalt Roofing Systems bulletin tells anyone working with a chlorine bleach solution to “Take proper precautions to protect landscaping and surrounding areas from the chlorine bleach solution.” None of it describes any one company's own schedule; it is what the published bulletins tell the trade to do, any month of the year.