How to clean a patio

What's the best way to clean a patio?

As well as regular sweeping with a stiff-bristled broom to remove plant debris, patios really benefit from an occasional thorough clean – spring and autumn are ideal times to do this. You don't need a pressure washer to clean a patio. While pressure washers can give patios a good, uniform clean, you'll be surprised how much you can achieve with a bucket of soapy water and a good scrub.

Chemical-free patio cleaning

While there is a wide range of proprietary patio cleaners available to buy, there are simple and chemical-free kitchen products that work well and cost very little. For hand cleaning, use a stiff-bristled brush that could be either long-handled, or a hand scrubbing brush, depending on whether you prefer to work standing up or kneeling down. If the latter, use knee pads or a garden kneeler to protect your joints. An easier – though more costly – option is using a powered pressure washer.

Before cleaning your patio, sweep off leaves and plant debris, and remove weeds and moss from paving cracks. Remove anything portable such as garden furniture and plant pots so there is nothing in the way while you clean.

How to clean a patio with soapy water

Scrubbing your patio with warm water plus a squirt of washing up liquid can remove a lot of dirt and algae.

1. Fill a bucket with warm water, add a good squirt of washing up liquid, and stir to thoroughly mix
2. Working on a small area at a time, pour the water over the paving and leave for several minutes to soak in
3. Scrub the paving, first in one direction and then the other, to thoroughly work over the whole surface
4. Use a hose or bucket to rinse off the dirty water with clean water and leave to dry. The cleaning process may need to be repeated, especially if the paving was very dirty

How to clean a patio with vinegar

Household vinegar is excellent for cleaning with many uses around the home and can be used on patios for dirt and stains that are hard to shift. Use white vinegar rather than malt vinegar, which has a strong smell. Refill shops often sell white vinegar so you can fill your own large container, rather than buying small bottles. Concentrated vinegar is sold under its chemical name of acetic acid. Note that vinegar is corrosive with the potential to damage plants. Shield plants from vinegar splash and rinse any runoff thoroughly with clean water to dilute it and reduce its harmful impact.

1. In a large bucket, make up a 50:50 mixture of water and vinegar, stirring thoroughly to mix
2. Test a small area of paving first before using it on your whole patio, then pour or spray on the solution to the rest of the patio. Using a sprayer ensures even coverage and makes the mixture go further
3. Leave for 20-30 minutes to soak in
4. Scrub thoroughly with a stiff-bristled brush, first working one way on the diagonal and then the other
5. Rinse with clean water and allow to dry. Repeat on stubborn stains if needed

How to clean a patio with a pressure washer

An electrically powered pressure washer or power washer is an easier and more thorough patio cleaning method compared to hand scrubbing. However, a pressure washer is costly to buy, takes up valuable storage space in the shed and is noisy when in use. It also uses a lot of water, so is not the best option for environmental reasons. Either buy your own pressure washer or rent one from a tool hire business. An increasing number of communities now operate ‘tool libraries’ to share expensive kit, so you don't have to buy your own.

Before you start, make sure you have a hose and connectors suitable for use with a pressure washer, as soft, flexible or packable hoses aren’t strong enough. Depending on patio size, you may also need an extension lead. Bear in mind, also, that water and electricity have the potential to be a fatal combination – if your home electrical system doesn’t have a build in circuit breaker or RCD, use a small portable one.

Pressure-washing is a wet and noisy job, so protect yourself with wellies, waterproof jacket and trousers, rubber gloves, ear defenders, and safety glasses.

1. Start with the pressure washer on its lowest setting and wet the patio first to soak and loosen the dirt. If your patio is made of porcelain or sandstone which is a soft stone, keep the washer on its lowest setting to avoid damaging the surface
2. Working with the nozzle around 30cm from the ground, go over the paving slowly and steadily, with each pass slightly overlapping the previous one to ensure a thorough clean
3. Use the hose to rinse off any dirt that has splashed up onto anything close by, such as walls, doors, and patio windows
4. If any stubborn stains remain once the patio has dried, treat with vinegar or a proprietary cleaner, rather then re-washing

• Buy pressure washers from B&Q, Karcher
• Rent pressure washers from HSS

How to keep your patio looking its best

Clean or new paving can be treated with a patio sealant to make it harder wearing and easier to clean. However, some people don’t like the slightly shiny finish of a sealant, so carry out a test on a sample piece first before applying to your whole patio.

Regular sweeping with a stiff-bristled garden broom helps avoid leaves and debris starting to rot down or becoming trodden in to create hard-to-shift stains. Hosing down patios with a jet of water from a hosepipe from time to time will shift loose dirt before it beds in.

When eating outdoors, pick up spilt food before it gets trodden in and creates stubborn stains. Scrub off greasy marks promptly using hot water and a little washing up liquid.