Cleaning patio stones

megasaver

Have been in the house for over 4 years and am guilty of never cleaning the patio paving stones. They are grey and quite dirty. Before I go out and buy some incredibly expensive/usless/highly dangerous chemical cleaner, can anybody please recommend a good old fashioned method to get them clean?

thanks

Maria

16011996

bleach in warm water, pour it on and brush with a stiff brush, is also great for getting rid of that slimy green stuff that appears on mine sometoimes,

hth

160.

chocomonsta

i also use bleach to clean my patio which is all grey concrete.

Just mix a generous squeeze or two of bleach into a watering can, fill it up with cold water and water the patio. It doesnt need to be rinsed off. The rain seems to clear it and after a day or 2 the patio comes up really bright. I used to scrub with a yard brush, but this works just as well. Hope this helps

elona

We use neat bleach as we can get it at Netto for £1.49 for 5 litres.

Magentasue

Or borrow a pressure washer - notold fashioned but chemical free.

Prudent

I used bleach on mine last year and the result was very good.

student100

Pressure washer is the way to go...much less elbow grease and kinder to the garden than bleach. But not very "old style".

My grandma used to hire my services with dad's pressure washer once a year for a while to do her patio

Poppy9

I use a pressure washer but beware it throws up muck on you if it doesn't have a shield thingy (yes that is a tech term ). I also find it quite a slow process. Pouring on bleach and leaving sounds good and less time consuming

megasaver

A big thank you to eveyone who replied. Although I don't like using bleach, you have all convinced me that is what I should use. I am going out very soon to buy loads of it to use it on my patio. I especially love the idea of not having to work very hard to clean it :j . Just one last question is it better to spray it with thin or thick bleach?

student100

Thin bleach I would have thought. Thick bleach has lots of stuff (detergent, thickner, scent etc) added to make it better for cleaning toilets but there's not much point using it for the garden. Also if you use thin bleach most of the bleach will eventually evaporate whereas thick bleach could leave chemicals left on your slabs.

prophecy_grrl

Hi all

Can anybody recommend a good (but cheap) way to clean patio slabs and paths please? There is green algae type stuff growing on mine (plus puppy likes to do his business out there)

I have been using dettol mixed with water, and have also tried washing up liqiud but doesn't seem to do much good. I haven't got a tap out the garden so am relying on running back and fore with buckets

Any ideas gratefully received