Pre-Hurricane Season Exterior Prep for Foley, Gulf Shores, and Orange Beach: A 2026 Checklist

The Alabama Gulf Coast hurricane season starts June 1 and ends November 30. The active part of the season runs August through October for Foley (36535), Gulf Shores (36542), and Orange Beach (36561). A pre-season exterior prep done before the end of May gives the home its best shot at coming through a Gulf storm with the smallest possible bill. This 2026 checklist is the order we run it for our Zone 2 customers and the order a homeowner can run it themselves.

The point of a pre-season prep is not a deep clean for the sake of looking nice. It is to remove the small problems that turn into big problems once 60 mph gusts and 4 inches of horizontal rain hit the house. Loose gutters that hold water. Soffits with mildew that has eaten through the paint. A roof valley packed with pine needles and oak leaves that turns into a dam. A driveway with so much algae buildup that the runoff floods the garage when the slab cannot drain. None of those things are emergencies in May. Every one of them is an emergency in September.

The Gulf Coast pattern matters here. Foley sits about 8 miles north of the beach and takes its storm load from the bay-side winds and the inland rain bands. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach sit on the salt-spray line; the beach properties get the full wind-and-water load and the back-bay properties get most of it. A Caribe condo in 36561 has a different prep list than a Live Oak Village ranch in Foley 36535. The checklist below covers both.

Step 1: Clear the Gutters and Downspouts in May, Not in August

Gulf Coast hurricanes drop rain in inches per hour, not inches per day. A 1500-square-foot single-story Foley home generates roughly 935 gallons of roof runoff in a 1-inch rain event; in a slow-moving tropical storm with 8 to 12 inches of total rainfall that climbs over 8,500 gallons. The gutters and downspouts need to move every gallon of it cleanly away from the foundation and the siding.

A gutter run in Foley or Gulf Shores typically picks up oak leaves through spring and pine needles through summer. By late May the gutters of a typical canopy home have a 1 to 2 inch debris layer in the bottom of the run, and 4 to 6 inches at the downspout drops where it backs up. That debris layer holds water permanently, rusts the gutter seams, weights the run heavily enough to pull spike-and-ferrule mounts loose, and bridges the downspout opening so the rain backs up over the front edge of the gutter onto the soffit and the wall.

The pre-hurricane gutter clear is a top-down debris pull from every gutter run, a flush of every downspout, a check of every downspout extension at grade, and a visual on every spike or hidden hanger. Anything loose gets re-secured. Anything broken gets called out for repair before the season hits. The crew that runs this on a Gulf Shores beach house typically pulls 30 to 60 pounds of debris out of the gutters even on a home the homeowner thought was clean.

The DIY version of the same job is feasible on a single-story Foley or Magnolia Springs home with a 6 foot ladder. The professional version becomes necessary on two-story Gulf Shores beach houses, Orange Beach back-bay homes with steep roofs, and condo properties where there is no roof access. The cost on a typical single-story Foley home runs $175 to $325 as an add-on to a house wash, or $225 to $425 as a standalone service.

Step 2: Pull the Roof Debris and Inspect the Valleys

A clean gutter is a wasted clean if the roof valleys above it are still packed. A typical Foley canopy roof in late May carries pine needles, oak leaves, sweetgum balls, and an inch or two of decomposed organic mat in every valley and behind every chimney chase. When a tropical storm dumps 6 inches of rain over 24 hours, the valleys do not drain; they pond, the water level rises until it finds the side of the underlayment, and the rain pushes sideways under the shingles.

The pre-season roof debris pull is a leaf-blower-and-broom job on a typical low-slope Foley ranch. Crew member up the ladder with a blower; debris off the field of the roof; valleys, eaves, and behind every penetration cleared by hand. The job takes 25 to 45 minutes on a single-story 1800-square-foot Live Oak Village home; 60 to 90 minutes on a two-story Gulf Shores beach house with multiple roof planes.

During the debris pull, the crew inspects what is underneath. Lifted shingles, missing tab corners, exposed nail heads, cracked boots around plumbing penetrations, missing or rusted ridge cap nails. None of those are typically emergency repairs in May. Every one of them is an emergency in September when the wind drives rain past a lifted shingle and starts a ceiling stain inside. The inspection list goes to the homeowner; a roofer can repair what needs repair before the season hits.

The roof check pairs well with a soft wash treatment if the roof carries black streaks or green algae. The soft wash kills the algae at the root and starts the streak fading; doing the chemistry treatment in May means the roof looks clean by July and the algae cannot rebuild during the wet season. Roof soft wash on a single-story Foley home runs $425 to $625; on a two-story Orange Beach beach house with a steep complex roof, $625 to $975.

Step 3: Soft Wash the Siding and Soffits to Pull the Mildew Off Now

Salt-air mildew runs all year on the Gulf Coast but peaks in the high-humidity windows of June through September. A home that goes into the season with mildew already established on the siding and soffits has more biological mass on the wall for the storm to drive moisture into; the mildew rebuilds faster after the storm and the next round of mildew sets in deeper than the last.

The pre-season soft wash takes the mildew load down to zero before the season starts. Sodium hypochlorite chemistry at a working concentration, surfactant for dwell, 20 to 25 minute dwell, low-pressure rinse. The job covers all four elevations of the house, every soffit run, and the fascia. The chemistry kills the algae and mildew at the root; the rinse lifts the dead material; the wall comes back to its actual paint color. Hardie, vinyl, brick, and stucco all take the same chemistry on a working concentration; older painted wood (rare on the coast but present on some 1950s Foley downtown homes) takes a reduced concentration with a shorter dwell.

A Gulf Shores or Orange Beach beach house that takes the full salt-spray load wants the soft wash 30 to 60 days before the season hits, plus a salt rinse on every elevation. The salt rinse is a low-pressure clean-water pass that pulls the chloride load off the wall before it pits the paint or the metal trim. A Caribe or Phoenix high-rise unit balcony gets the same treatment scaled down: railing, ceiling, walls, sliding glass door track all rinsed clean of salt.

Typical pricing for the pre-season soft wash on a Foley single-story 1500 to 2000 square foot home is $325 to $475. A Gulf Shores two-story 2500 to 3500 square foot beach house with full salt rinse is $625 to $925. A back-bay Orange Beach 36561 home falls in between. Condo-unit balconies are scoped by unit and typically run $125 to $225 per unit when the building books a whole-floor sweep.

Step 4: Clean and Inspect the Deck, Pier, and Outdoor Surfaces

Decks, piers, boardwalks, and outdoor stairs on a Foley back-bay home, a Magnolia Springs riverfront, or a Gulf Shores beach house take more weather load than any other part of the property. A wood deck or pier that has not been cleaned in 18 months carries a soft surface mildew layer, fastener corrosion at every nail and screw head, and edge rot at any board that touches a post. The same surface in October after a tropical storm is in worse shape than it would be after a clean-and-inspect in May.

The pre-season deck and pier protocol is a soft wash with a wood-safe chemistry, a low-pressure rinse, an air-dry, and a fastener and structure inspection. The chemistry kills the surface mildew and brightens the wood. The rinse pulls the dead biofilm. The inspection identifies loose boards, rusting fasteners, soft spots at the post-to-board junctions, and any railing or stair structure that needs tightening before the storm load hits.

A Bon Secour or Magnolia Springs pier with treated southern yellow pine decking typically wants a soft wash every 12 to 18 months. A Gulf Shores back-deck of pressure-treated lumber over the sand wants annual treatment because the salt-and-wind load is heavier. A composite deck (Trex, TimberTech, etc.) wants the same chemistry but a longer rinse cycle because the embossed surface holds chemistry differently than wood; the rinse pulls the residue out of the embossed grain.

Pricing for a deck soft wash plus inspection: a 200 to 400 square foot Foley back-deck runs $225 to $425; a 600 to 1000 square foot Gulf Shores upper-deck-plus-lower-deck combo runs $475 to $825; a Bon Secour pier with stair to dock runs $325 to $575 depending on length. Sealing the deck after the wash is a separate service and typically runs another visit two to three weeks later to let the wood dry properly.

Step 5: Surface-Clean the Concrete Driveway, Walks, and Pool Deck

A clean concrete driveway is not a vanity job before hurricane season; it is a drainage check. A driveway with a year of algae buildup typically has 30 to 50 percent less effective drainage through the slab pores than a clean slab. In a heavy tropical-storm rain band, the runoff that the slab cannot absorb runs to the lowest point, and on a typical Foley or Gulf Shores property the lowest point is either the garage door, the back patio, or the foundation wall on one corner of the house. A pre-season surface clean restores the drainage profile.

The procedure is a chemistry pre-treat (sodium hypochlorite on an oak-debris property, sodium percarbonate on a pine-tannin property), a 15-minute dwell, a surface clean pass at 3000 to 3500 PSI on a 25-inch tool, and a post-rinse. The slab comes back to its original color, the drainage profile is restored, and the visible algae mat that holds moisture against the foundation is gone.

Pool deck concrete on a Gulf Shores or Orange Beach back-bay property wants the same treatment plus a more careful rinse because the chemistry runoff cannot enter the pool. The crew typically masks the pool gutters with a tarp, runs the surface clean, and rinses to the yard instead of the pool. A typical pool deck surface clean runs $325 to $525 added to a driveway-and-walks package.

The driveway-and-walks-only package on a single-story Foley home with a 2-car concrete drive and a front walk runs $225 to $375. The same package plus a pool deck on a Gulf Shores 36542 home is $525 to $825. A vacation rental in Orange Beach 36561 with multiple parking pads and a wraparound walk is $625 to $975.

Step 6: Window-and-Track Clean Before the Storm Shutters Go Up

The pre-season window clean serves two purposes. The cosmetic purpose is obvious. The functional purpose matters more: the window tracks and the storm shutter mounts need to be clear before the season hits. A Gulf Shores beach house with accordion or Bahama shutters that has not had the tracks cleaned in two years typically has enough salt and grit in the channels to bind the shutter operation when the homeowner needs to close them ahead of a storm.

A window-and-track service is a soft wash on the glass with a streak-free squeegee finish, a track vacuum and brush, a hinge or roller lubrication, and a test cycle on the shutters to confirm they operate freely. The service typically runs $325 to $625 on a 24-to-36-window Gulf Shores or Orange Beach beach house, depending on shutter type and accessibility.

The same service on a Caribe or Phoenix high-rise unit is unit-specific. The glass is rarely an issue because building management handles exterior glass. The slider tracks, the balcony rail tracks, and the impact-window tracks on the unit are the homeowner concern. A single unit balcony track clean runs $125 to $225.

What to Ask Before Hiring

A short list that sorts a Gulf Coast hurricane-ready vendor from a one-off:

• Do you run a pre-hurricane-season exterior prep checklist, and can I see what is on it? The right answer is yes, the list covers gutters, roof debris, soft wash, deck and pier, concrete, and window tracks, and the vendor can walk through how each item connects to storm protection.
• How do you handle a salt-spray Gulf Shores or Orange Beach beach property differently than a Foley back-bay home? The right answer mentions the chloride rinse, the more frequent service interval for beach-front houses, the chemistry adjustments for stucco-and-tile finishes versus Hardie-and-brick inland finishes, and the shorter dwell on metal trim.
• Do you do roof debris pulls before hurricane season, and do you flag what needs roofer attention? The right answer is yes, with a written list of any lifted shingles or compromised flashings, photographed and emailed after the job for the homeowner to forward to their roofer.
• Can you book me before June 1? The right answer is yes, with concrete dates. A vendor that cannot book until July is too busy to give a Gulf Coast property the pre-season window it needs.
• What is your protocol when a named storm is in the Gulf? The right answer is a same-week scheduling pause inside the cone of uncertainty, with reschedule offers for any customer pushed by the storm, and a priority-route post-storm cleanup list for the customers who already paid for prep.
• Do you carry insurance for working at height on a multi-story beach house? The right answer is yes, with a current certificate of insurance available on request and listing the property as additional insured for the service window.

What Baldwin County Homeowners Say

Real reviews from neighbors across Foley, Gulf Shores, and the Eastern Shore

"Doug just finished my project. He went above and beyond to power wash my home. I got 3 estimates and his was outstanding. He arrived as promised and tirelessly worked till done. I highly recommend him."

Mary Hilsenbeck

Foley, AL

"Doug and his son pressure washed our drive and sidewalks. They did a great job. They were very neat and respectful of our home and property. I would highly recommend Baldwin Preaux Wash."

Rosemary Chesser

Foley, AL

"Doug did a fantastic job on our home. The house and driveway was sparkling when he was done. His prices were very good and I will have him back to do additional work."

Chris J

Gulf Shores, AL

Frequently Asked Questions