How to clean garden paths and pavers
<p><strong><em>Better Homes and Gardens’ resident landscaper, Jason Hodges, shares his top tips for cleaning garden paths and pavers. </em></strong></p>
<p>Mould, moss and mildew make our paths, patios and retaining walls unsightly and slippery. It’s time to tackle the problem head-on so you are ready for barbecues and nights entertaining on clean, safe surfaces.</p>
<p>Here are five easy steps to cleaning your tiles, stone and concrete without damaging the surfaces. Be especially careful with older sandstone, slate, travertine and limestone.</p>
<p>Use as little of any cleaning product as possible because most pavers and tiles are porous and will absorb these materials and may end up looking worse than if you never cleaned them at all.</p>
<p>Then before you begin, my best tip is to do a little test somewhere tucked away, maybe down the side of the house, the bin area or under the barbecue.</p>
<p>1. Pressure water cleaners like Gerni and Karcher have become affordable in recent years. These are great for removing most moulds and dirt. The entry-level ones are pretty gentle, but still, take your time and don’t go too close to the ground or too quick; you may blow the surface you want to clean to pieces. It’s important to clean evenly; nothing looks worse than when someone loses their enthusiasm and you can see where they’ve started to rush and do a poorer job than when they started.</p>
<p>2. For oil and fat from the barbecue, sugar soup works well.</p>
<p>3. I like using two relatively cheap products to clean my pavers, tiles and retaining wall. (Now, this is my opinion but I have been doing this for more than 20 years with good results.)</p>
<p>The first one is liquid pool chlorine and the second, good old Napisan. The application is the same for both: mist down the surface with a hose. If the surface is drying out you keep misting it. Scrub it around and leave it for 15 to 20 minutes. Hose off thoroughly, scrub again with fresh water and wash off again.</p>
<p>If using chlorine, dilute five parts water to one part chlorine and apply with a stiff brush. Chlorine isn’t great for the garden or lawn, so don’t over do it. I like Napisan, but it costs slightly more. In fact, I’ve seen plants like gardenias thrive from the trace elements given to the soil after they have been watered with the run-off.</p>
<p>4. In both cases it’s important to make sure there’s no residue left behind because next time it rains or its wet the floors may be slippery again and be more dangerous than if you did nothing at all.</p>
<p>5. Now that you’ve got them looking good you might want to think about sealing them. There are lots of different seals that give different looks. Some will leave a glaze or shine on top and this may be a great way to give an old-looking surface a facelift without replacing it. I like using one that penetrates the surface and isn’t visible.</p>
<p>Try to tackle these jobs in the morning, it gives the surface time to dry out and by tackling it early you’ve got the arvo to enjoy your handy work with a cold one.</p>
<p>Written by Jason Hodges. First appeared on <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.domain.com.au/" target="_blank">Domain.com.au</a></span></strong>.</p>
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