Summer is nearly here which means it’s time to get ready for BBQs and late nights by the fire. If you’re here, you have at least one more job to do to get your garden summer ready. The dreaded patio clean. The easiest way to clean a patio is by using a pressure washer. If you don’t have one of those, don’t worry, a pressure washer is not necessary to get a gleaming patio.
To clean patio slabs without a pressure washer all you need is warm water, a hard bristled brush, a cleaner of choice, time and a bit of energy.
STEP 1: PREPARE THE PATIO AREA
Firstly, you need to prepare your patio area for cleaning. Remove any furniture on your patio so that you have a clear space to work. Pull out any weeds growing in between the slabs and sweep up any debris. If the weeds are really pesky, you can use a wire brush such as this one to scratch between the slabs to get the weeds up. You could also use a weed killer a couple of weeks before the patio clean day to make sure they all die off before starting. It depends on whether you’re comfortable using chemicals in your garden.
STEP 2: SCRUB THE PATIO
The next step is to make up a bucket of warm water mixed with a cleaner of your choice. You can simply use washing up liquid, a disinfectant such as Jeyes Fluid or a different, specialised patio cleaner. I usually use Zoflora as I have dogs and need a disinfectant to kill the pee-pee smell but hate the smell of Jeyes Fluid. Zoflora has a lovely floral smell which sits much nicer.
Once you have the mix ready, you need a hard bristled brush. If your slabs aren’t actually that dirty, you can use a long-handled garden brush to scrub the floor after pouring a bit of mixture onto the slabs. If they are really dirty, as mine always are, it’s best to use a handheld brush and scrub each slab by hand. This is hard work and does take a significant amount of time but the result is worth the effort. Whichever type of brush you’re using, make sure to scrub the slab edges well. As you can see in the picture above, my slab edges are still looking a little dark as I haven’t scrubbed here for as long as I should have!
There are a couple of things to consider during this step. Firstly, if you’re using a harsh cleaner, wear gloves. Second, the slabs we still have are those really thick, cheap giant square ones. I swear you could douse those with lava and they would survive. If you have a patio that is a little more delicate or expensive, check that the cleaner you chose can be used on it or do a small patch test somewhere you can’t see it.
STEP 3: RINSE THE DIRT OFF
Depending on the size of your patio and the weather, you may need to rinse as you go so that any scrubbed off dirt doesn’t dry up on the slabs again while you scrub a different area. Once rinsed, you should be able to see the result. If you missed any patches go back over those again.
That’s it – once the slabs are dry, pop your furniture back and enjoy your garden in its full glory. I completely forgot that my slabs had little coloured stoned embedded in them!
