Concrete Cleaning Recommendations For Your Home Driveway And Patios
Cleaning up the exterior of your home and keeping your landscaping neat and maintained are only part of regular home maintenance. In addition, you should look to clean off your commonly-used surfaces, such as your concrete driveway, that can accumulate dirt, mud, vehicle fluid stains, and rust, to name a few. Here are some recommendations to help you keep your concrete clean and looking great.
Clean Up Spots Immediately
One of the first rules with keeping your concrete clean is to clean up any stains and spots that occur on it as soon as possible. The longer a spot remains on your concrete, the further it can seep into the pores of your concrete and the more difficult it will be to clean out.
For example, if vehicle oil or other fluids drip onto your concrete, use some cat litter to sprinkle onto the surface of the spill. Let this soak up the fluids, then sweep it from the concrete. You can also keep your concrete clean by sweeping off any soil left over after gardening and any fertilizers after applying it onto your lawn.
Use Your Own Cleaning Process
You can clean off the surface of your concrete with some basic tools that you most likely already have in your backyard shed or garage and in your home. You can use a cleaning mixture to apply onto your concrete to help pull up stains, such as grease, mold, and mildew. Combine equal parts of vinegar and water and pour it onto the stain. Let the mixture sit for several minutes, then scrub it with a long-handled scrub brush and rinse it clean.
You can also use a combination of one-half cup of baking soda with one gallon of water. Combine in some liquid dish soap to give the mixture the lifting power the suds create and apply it onto the concrete stains. Scrub this into the concrete to lift the stains, then spray it clean with your garden hose.
If you have a pressure washer, this is a great tool for cleaning your concrete. Use the soap application tip or the lowest sprayer tip to apply a cleaning solution of water combined with concrete cleaner. Use the high-pressure spray nozzle to rinse it off the concrete along with the stains.
Hire a Cleaning Service
A professional concrete cleaning service is a great benefit to you as a homeowner because they have specialized equipment with high-pressure sprayers and a solution adept at cleaning concrete. Then, as they clean and remove stains from your concrete, they can also remove damaging mildew stains and other residues that will leave your concrete looking unattractive. While they clean your concrete, they can also check for any stubborn stains, such as rust, to remove them appropriately.
Contact a company like Jaco Waterproofing to learn more.
