Last updated on December 26th, 2022 | By: Grady Galvez
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Who Likes To Have An Unclean Or A Shabby Looking Patio? I Guess None!
Your concrete patio is an important place in your life and house. These calm places are meant for your recreation and relaxation. They add a lot of aesthetics to your house, and owning it and keeping it clean becomes your responsibility. As a responsible homeowner, just keep your concrete patio clean and fresh. It is a myth that only power washers gives perfect cleaning, you can read in the article below, and see how to clean outdoor concrete with easy DIY methods.
Best Way To Clean Concrete Patio Without Pressure Washer:
As most of the patios are concrete, they attract more oil, sand, dirt and thick layers of grease and grime. The concrete is porous and thereby absorbs a lot of stains and even the rain or water is unable to clean them perfectly.
If we talk about an electric power washer, it is easy to use cleans properly and is reliable. You can clean your patios without the help of these pressure washers also. If you opt for scrubbing your patio, then it will surely consume a lot of your time and effort. Your patio is required to be scrubbed once or twice a year only.
To start with you can sprinkle on any grease or stains, a layer of sawdust or kitty liner for cleaning purposes. The layer of sawdust should be left for about a time duration of 12 to 24 hours, as this will help in absorbing more and more. Before disposing of just sweep it off.
Any kind of surface dust that is settled on your patio should be cleaned by sweeping it. Any cracks if developed in this process should also be removed before you wash your patio. A garden hose sprayer is sufficient to spray water on the entire patio.
Just take some hot water, 1 gallon will be sufficient with 2 ½ ounces of washing soda dissolved in it. As an alternative, you can also sprinkle dishwashing detergent or pressure washer soap or detergent all over the surface area of your patio.
Your hot washing soda is ready to clean, and you can dip a deck brush and scrub your patio with it easily. As per your need or requirement, you can rewet your brush with ease. In case you are using dish detergent, then you need to dip that in a bucket of hot water, for cleaning the surface.
After you feel its clean, then you are supposed to rinse your driveway with clear water. If you have any grassy areas near your patio, then rinsing water should be avoided. The high concentration that you make with detergent can spoil and damage your plants.
In This Whole Cleaning Process, You Need To Do The Following Things:
- Kitty liner or a sawdust
- A broom
- Sprayer and a garden hose
- Bucket
- Dry dish detergent
- Washing soda
- Deck brushes
Points To Be Noted:
You should try to wash your patio on cloudy days so that they remain wet for a longer time. If you have an extremely dirty patio, then go for a trisodium phosphate cleaner. This is harsh so contact with plants should be avoided.
A Few More Methods Of Cleaning Rust And Other Stains From Concrete Patio
Whenever you think of laying down new concrete, it becomes very potent to take protective measures for surfaces that are made of old concrete. It should be ensured by you that the surface is ready for sealer or not. There are many elements and weather conditions that can spoil the surface area of concrete, so using a concrete cleaner becomes a necessity for providing protection to it.
Maybe you might not be aware that the concrete surfaces can also have rust, as they also face this problem. The rust and other stains have to be cleared before applying the sealer, as the rust stains might get hardened and tough. As these solidified and tough rust stains are difficult to Remove Later.
Use Of Acids To Remove Rust And Other Stains
The acidic cleaner makes it very easy to remove the rust and other stains. Once the stain gets loosened then it becomes quite easy to scrub them, as the acid helps in lifting the stains. The rust is removed with the help of using acid, as it turns it into oxide. This way it becomes easily dissolvable in water and the surface can be cleaned with ease. Some DIY (do it yourself) treatments can be performed by you with ease in order to remove rust stains from concrete surfaces.
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Use Of Lemon Juice To Remove Rust And Other Stains From Concrete
If the rust stains on your concrete surface are not tough, then you can easily use lemon juice as a cleaning agent. The lemon juice is a kind of citric acid, that works well for removing stains.
It’s quite easy to apply, as you can squeeze the lemon and put it all over the stain. If you want to make it quicker and easier, then you can go for a lemon concentrate from a store to put on the surface where rust stains are there.
The time duration of 10 minutes is sufficient, for the lemon concentrate to stay on the rust and soak for some time. Later you can scrub the area where the stain is, with a wire brush. You can rinse and find out the area that is cleared. Repetition can be done if necessary.
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Use Of White Vinegar To Remove Rust And Other Stains
If the stains are tough, then lemon juice won’t work out well and the use of white vinegar is more preferable then. The procedure is the same and can be applied on the surface to be treated. You should wait for it to set, and later use a brush to scrub the stain. To enhance the potency of acid, a bit of salt can be added to the vinegar.
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Use Of Carbonated Drinks To Remove Stains
Just imagine how harmful these carbonated drinks like Coca-Cola, Pepsi be if they are being used as cleaners. These carbonated drinks should have a pH level of 3.4 at least, and that decides their bent towards being acidic. The combination of carbon and acid makes it perfect and effective rust and another stain cleaner.
The metal oxides can be easily dissolved by using these. The drink can be poured on the surface to be treated and should be made to sit for some time. As these carbonated drinks make the surface area sticky due to the sugar content in them, so they need to be scrubbed properly or power hose to be used to rinse the area for making it look clean And Fresh.
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Use Of Hydrochloric Acid As A Stain Remover
It happens sometimes that many of our cleaning efforts tend to fail when we easy DIY methods. If you haven’t been lucky and the stains are tough, then hydrochloric acid can be used. You should be extremely careful while doing this, as it is risky for your skin and otherwise. For your protection, it is strongly recommended to use gloves, masks, etc. there might be a need to dilute the acid, and you can do so, by adding acid to water, and mind it this shouldn’t be vice-versa.
The procedure has to be done quickly, as the acid may darken and turn the treated surface into a bluish color, that won’t look good either. Ten minutes are more than sufficient to make the acid sit on the stains. Immediate scrubbing should be done and a hose should be used to wash the area. Only if the stains are stubborn then this acid should be used.
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Using Alkaline Stain Removers To Remove Rust And Other Stains
Though bases are not an effective option to go for, some of the mild ones can prove to be efficient and effective cleaning agents.You can also go for Wet & Forget cleaners or Spray & Forget cleaners.
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Use Of Baking Soda For Removing Rust And Other Stains
I know how baking soda works? It just fizzes and bubbles when it comes in contact with water. I have always seen while baking cakes, as it makes things fluffy. This is mild but an abrasive agent too. When the baking soda is used, a chemical reaction is triggered, which helps in the separation of rust and metal, and the bond is broken between the two. The oxidized portions can be removed easily by applying baking soda.
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Before applying, the baking soda is supposed to be mixed with water for making a thick and consistent paste for treating the rust or other stain affected area. It shouldn’t be grainy or runny and should be thick and consistent for getting the best cleaning results. Be careful before making the paste.
Use Of Laundry Detergent
The laundry detergent that you use in your routine can also be used to treat stains that are light and not so tough. Laundry detergent and water can be mixed in a decent quantity to make a paste and apply it on the rust or any other stain affected surface.
Some of the detergents contain baking soda and make the paste more effective. The consistency should be kept in mind, as the not so thick paste might run before cleaning, and very thick paste might dry off quickly. The paste should be made to stay on the area for an hour, and later a stiff brush to be used for scrubbing.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Can Concrete Patio Be Cleaned With Bleach?
Ans1. The answer to this is yes, bleach can be used to clean a concrete patio. Bleach can be mixed with water and will work great if 1/8 cup of liquid detergent is added to it. You can just shake it and put it in a spray bottle for usage. It is not advisable to use metallic brushes, as some metal bits may rust or stain the patio.
Q2. Is Vinegar Suitable For A Concrete Patio?
Ans 2. if we use vinegar then it might hurt the concrete patio and may strip away seal coating, that protects the floor and the floor might be in a bad condition and won’t be able to manage water damage, stains and pitting. Even concrete floors might be damaged, but in case there are some rust or other stains then white vinegar can be used to treat them.
Q3. In Case There Are Any Black Stains On Your Concrete Patio, What Are They?
Ans3. It entirely depends on the weather and your concrete patio exposure. Outdoor dampness might bring heavy mildew stains to existence. Chlorine bleach can be used to kill mildew spores and also helps in removing black stains. if you use bleach that is oxygen-based, then it won’t kill the spores and will only remove stains.
Q4. Can Rust Be Removed From Concrete With Coke?
Ans4. The rust can be removed with coke, as this is acidic in nature and works well to remove rust stains on concrete. The carbonated drinks, when mixed with acid, can effectively remove rust. These are sticky due to high sugar content, so scrubbing and rinsing in a proper way is required after applying it for 10 to 15 minutes.
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