Chores in bloom for outdoor services company

"Honey Do" season is upon us! As the weather gradually improves, all of those tasks we conveniently ignored this winter because it was "too cold to do anything about it" are rearing their ugly heads, just as we would rather be playing sports, barbecuing, gardening or even walking our dogs.

Fortunately, there is someone to whom homeowners can turn to get those tasks accomplished without sacrificing their precious free time.

SCC Cleaning Co. Inc. of Gurnee is taking what it has learned from more than 30 years of janitorial work in schools, businesses and offices and is now applying it to homes through its 5-year-old Deck Monkeys division.

"We are not a maid service," said Jeff Spivey, president. "Inside homes we wash windows; shampoo carpets; paint baseboards and we even have a waterless and sand-less way to refinish wood floors that are scratched and dull, but not yet badly gouged and damaged," he said.

"Our process makes the finish sticky again and when it dries, it looks just like new. In fact, that is the process we recently used on the gym floor at Warren High School and it turned out fantastic," Spivey said. "This is usually a two-day process and there is no dust to get on walls and cabinets and into vents. It is great. We also did this seven or eight years ago on the wood floors at Gurnee Mills."

When it comes to the outsides of homes, Deck Monkeys power washes siding, paints trim, paints and stains fences, cleans out gutters and plants flowers. Its range of services includes garage floor refurbishing. It uses a heated steam cleaner to get oil off garage floors and then applies epoxy coatings to make them look like an auto showroom.

The company also cleans out and hauls away accumulated "junk" from basements and garages.

Their specialty, however, is staining decks with Australian timber oil, which they brush on.

"It is the best product to use, we have found," Spivey said. "It makes water bead up like car wax does and protects against damage from the sun. Homeowners can get five to six years of life out of one application, depending upon the amount of sun beating on the deck, how clean the owners keep it, whether or not they have dogs and other variables."

The secret to refinishing a deck is the prep work, Spivey said.

"The deck needs to be thoroughly power washed and thoroughly dried. If water continues to bead up on the deck, it needs to be scuffed or sanded in order to receive the new finishing product," he said. "In addition, the finish must be applied during the right weather. It must be above 50 degrees and it cannot be horribly hot."

Spivey said 2014 was a great year for the company.

"We have had an overwhelming response from schools wanting their wood gym floors refinished, homeowners wanting their garage floors sealed and their decks power-washed, sanded and refinished with oil, latex or a waterborne seal," he said. "We also have the equipment and skill to replaced a limited number of damaged and rotted deck boards and spindles when necessary."

"You name it, we have done it," he said, "and wherever possible, we use environmentally friendly products. We have to use them in schools, so they have just become part of our normal operations."

SCC Cleaning is a family-owned business and what sets it apart, Spivey said, is the fact that every job is watched over by an owner with at least 19 to 21 years of experience.

"If there is a problem for some reason, we will go back and do it again until it is right. We refuse to leave a job in poor shape because we know that all it takes to ruin your reputation is a few bad jobs," he said.

SCC Cleaning and Deck Monkeys offer both military and senior discounts. For more information, call Carola Spivey at (847) 249-4577, ext. 14, or visit www.scc-cleaning.com.