Cleaning the patio advice.

lindos90

We have recently moved house, and the patio needs some work.

Some of the slabs need relaying, and they are quite dirty and slimy, some almost black, im guessing due to shade and standing water on the uneven surface.

Im after suggestions about the best way to clean the slabs (environmentally wise) and hope you greenfingered lot have some ideas!

Im reluctant to buy a pressure washer as I am concerned about how much water it would waste (one I looked at used over 6 litres a minute!:eek:)

The only other alternative I can think of is chemical cleaners, which again im reluctant to use, for environmental reasons.

So, any ideas (apart from hands and knees and a scrubbing brush, which is not practical:D)

Any 'ecofriendly' water saving jet wahsers, 'eco' cleaners or any other ideas that you have used?

Also when it is cleaned, are there any tips on how to prevent it recurring such as treating the slabs?

Im not sure if this should be in this section, as its not actually gardening, but thought you friendly gardening MSErs would not mind me asking:o.

Thank you.

Vibrant

Hi,
A pressure washer is probably the best and eco option. They don't use as much water as you think, certainly nowhere nearly as much as a hose pipe.
But pressure washing does have some disadvantages, they aren't cheap to buy, it's a messy job until you get the hang of it, it can rip the grouting out of the slabs, if the grouting is poor, or your not very good at pressure washing.

Wilkinson do a pretty good chemical patio cleaner, I doubt it's very eco though. I have found it works well on tougher stains, pressure washing after.

Both bleach (50-50 with water) and Jeyes fluid work pretty well, depending on the type of muck. But it will take several treatments and some scrubbing.

Have a look at this site: http://www.pavingexpert.com/maintain_02.htm

lindos90

Vibrant wrote: »

Hi,
it can rip the grouting out of the slabs, if the grouting is poor, or your not very good at pressure washing.

......there IS no grout at the moment...that will be the next job:o

Thank you very much for your advice and the link. I may look into hiring a jet washer then, hopefully I will not need to do it regularly and it would be better to hire a strong effective one than to buy a little cheaper version.

Wilko cleaner for any 'hard to shift bits' sounds like a good comprimise.

I cant guarantee I will have lots of veggies, but the kids had a 'patch' in the last garden, so we hope to find space here too.

I'll be trying to reuse as much as I can, freecycle etc within the renovations of the garden, sort out the compost bins soon too (left one at the old house full of lovely compost for the new owners, while freecycling over 40 rubble bags of more compost to very gratful alotment owners!!)

May take some 'before and after' shots and photo bucket the progress of the garden as we want to try and renovate it as 'eco' as we can.

Vibrant

Hi,
Hiring a pressure washer is a good idea, as they aren't the longest lasting tools and are bulky to store.
Don't worry too much about getting a powerful one. My Wickes one is about as powerful as you can get, while running from the mains. But isn't much more effective than the old Power Pro (a cheapie) that I was given and I recently cleaned a customers (I garden, but do PW if asked) patio with their own small Karcher cleaner, which did a perfectly good job, just took slightly longer.
Too much power on slabs can be a bad thing, as it can roughen the surface, or on the fancy slabs, tear bits off. So if the hire office has electric as well as petrol, I would go for electric.
Don't forget you will need a pair of safety glasses and probably some waterproofs. I get away with just a jacket and jeans nowadays, but used to get soaked when I first did it.

wallbash

Buy a cheap power washer , you have a patio in the shade, you will have to redo every couple of years, if not every year.
Check cost of hiring a few times against a one off purchase ( also you have to collect/return on hire) bet the time you want to do the job everyone will be out on hire.
If a power washer wont remove the muck , I would not expect a chemical approach would be any more successful.

When you get on to 'grouting ' do not try brushing in a dry mix .
Use a small pointing trowel , a nearly dry mix , use a 'chopping' action
and take your time .

Blanket to sit on , a summers day and the radio.

SurferDan

Hi

I generally use a pressure washer to clean my patio but when it gets really dirty I use the services of a local professional cleaning service.
They have use a presure washer with specalist brushes and chemicals.
They recycle the water to minimise waste
They can even apply a coating to the slabs to reduce staining.
The last time we used this method it cost £40 for about 45 square metres of patio.

I don't know where you live but it may be worth trying a search on google.

Regards

ixwood

Other than an occasional sweep, I haven't cleaned my north facing patio for close to a decade.

Is there any way to stop water sitting on it? I assume that's what must be causing the gunk.

lindos90

ixwood wrote: »

Other than an occasional sweep, I haven't cleaned my north facing patio for close to a decade.

Is there any way to stop water sitting on it? I assume that's what must be causing the gunk.

We moved in at the end of October, so im guessing it was down to neglect of the previous owner who was no gardener (who also dug ALL the plants out and roughly turffed it, but at least I have a blank canvas I guess!)

There is some standing water as the slabs are 'rivened' if thats the term, and some slabs have sunk unevenly (which needs relaying). Also piles of leaves etc (who are now in my compostbin!).

Im hoping with a good clean and then properly cared for that it will not get quite so bad again.