Patio cleaning… gadget or chemical?

[Turn7]

Specific pressure washer patio attachment or patio magic type chemical to clean the patio for the upcoming season ?

[darreni]

A bit of both i reckon. My drive needs pressure washing to get the dirt off & a chemical to deal with the black spot/litchen.

[Terzo123]

Spraying on Sodium Hypochlorite is the easiest and quickest way i've found.

Previously I've used my Karcher, it was a long and dirty process. Just using the normal lance seemed to work out faster than the patio cleaner attachment funnily enough.

However chemicals is the way forward.

[juice]

Patio Magic is basically this stuff. (diluted)

Cut out the middle man and buy 5 litres then dilute down. Miles cheaper

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Benzalkonium-Concentrated...

I use it at 100ml to 5 litres and it clears everything.

[sooty61]

Used to swear by Patio Magic so I bought 3x5L for my new drive and spent a good couple of hours spraying everything at a 2:1 mix. A few days later and it has done absolutely nothing. I know it takes a while but I am sure I used to see results after 24 hours.

[juice]

sooty61 said:

Used to swear by Patio Magic so I bought 3x5L for my new drive and spent a good couple of hours spraying everything at a 2:1 mix. A few days later and it has done absolutely nothing. I know it takes a while but I am sure I used to see results after 24 hours.

That's cos Patio Magic is 7.5% BAC 50 so by diluting it by 50% you're not getting much use out of it - you may as well use water. Get the BAC50 and dilute it down.

[_-XXXX-_]

The cheapest washing powder from Lidl. Brush ot Ipver DRY. If it doesn't rain water it after a few days. You'll be surprised...

[sooty61]

juice said:

That's cos Patio Magic is 7.5% BAC 50 so by diluting it by 50% you're not getting much use out of it - you may as well use water. Get the BAC50 and dilute it down.

The instructions say to use 4:1!

[beedj]

juice said:

That's cos Patio Magic is 7.5% BAC 50 so by diluting it by 50% you're not getting much use out of it - you may as well use water. Get the BAC50 and dilute it down.

This doesn’t make sense … your earlier post said it 100ml to 5 litres which is 2%

7.5% diluted by 50% is 3.75% so is stronger!?

Even following the 4:1 ratio as per last post above makes it almost 2%

[Pflanzgarten]

There was a massive thread last year on this, I never seem to get a sensible answer out of diluting BAC50 though. Large shaded tarmac drive here and a huge porcelain tiled patio amongst other decking areas so I need a shed load on it!

[98elise]

Terzo123 said:

Spraying on Sodium Hypochlorite is the easiest and quickest way i've found.

Previously I've used my Karcher, it was a long and dirty process. Just using the normal lance seemed to work out faster than the patio cleaner attachment funnily enough.

However chemicals is the way forward.

Agreed. We had white lichen on our block drive. Nothing shifted it until we used 15% Sodium Hypochloride (Available on Amazon).

It stayed away for years, and has only just started to come back. A couple of weekends ago I treated the whole drive again.

[beedj]

Pflanzgarten said:

There was a massive thread last year on this, I never seem to get a sensible answer out of diluting BAC50 though. Large shaded tarmac drive here and a huge porcelain tiled patio amongst other decking areas so I need a shed load on it!

40:1 seems to work for me

[paulwirral]

I’ve always used a pressure washer with the patio cleaner attachment to good results . However you do need decent water pressure and a normal hard wall hosepipe , collapsible magic type hoses don’t maintain the pressure needed to make the patio attachments work properly , or at least they don’t in my experience.

[Pflanzgarten]

Right, I've got me BAC50-what's the common consensus on mixing ratios?

Do I need to keep the kids and pets off it short term?

[bennno]

We just used sodium hypochlorite, 25L drum from winstays is £20, incredible stuff.

Ruined my trousers and trainers…..

[Road2Ruin]

I used a cheapo bottle of bleach from Tesco, a 5L bucket and scrubbed it in with a brush. Worked perfectly and cost about £1

[98elise]

Road2Ruin said:

I used a cheapo bottle of bleach from Tesco, a 5L bucket and scrubbed it in with a brush. Worked perfectly and cost about £1

It won't touch white lichen though. I tried everything and 15% Sodium Hypochloride was the only thing that killed it.

[RicksAlfas]

juice said:

Patio Magic is basically this stuff. (diluted)

Cut out the middle man and buy 5 litres then dilute down. Miles cheaper

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Benzalkonium-Concentrated...

I use it at 100ml to 5 litres and it clears everything.

Does this need to be kept well away from flower beds and lawns?

[ARHarh]

RicksAlfas said:

Does this need to be kept well away from flower beds and lawns?

No it doesn't kill plants but I would still be careful.not to get it on plants. I just use it from a watering can.

[UTH]

Bookmarking for info, will need to do this soon