Easy Paver Clean up and Stain Prevention
Putting your pavers on a general cleaning schedule is a great way to keep them looking tidy. How many times per year is up to you. Some folks in Germany clean their pavers every weekend, some sort of Sunday ritual. Most cleanings can be done using every day household cleaners. Dish soap, laundry soap, and bleach are widely used. Hiring a hardscape firm that specializes in cleaning is also an easy choice.
Let’s talk about the most common stains:
1. Leaf season. They just keep raining down in the fall. After sitting on your pavers for a bit they leave a nice little stain behind. Harmless? Yes. Unsightly? For sure. The weather itself will remove the stain; however, if time is not on your side, a solution of 20% bleach and 80% water placed on the stain and a bit of elbow grease with a stiff bristled brush will do the trick.
2. The daughter’s boyfriend’s car is leaking oil – “Oh Dad, he was only there a minute”. Yikes. First thing let’s soak, not rub, the oil up with paper towel or Kitty Litter. After the majority of the spill has been absorbed, a treatment of laundry detergent, or dish soap may be applied directly to the remainder of the stain. Let it sit 10-15 minutes, hose off, repeat as necessary.
3. During any outdoor cooking event, there is bound to be some condiment spills. Once again liquid detergent, applied full strength for 10-15 minutes and then scrubbed and rinsed using hot water works very well.
These are the most common stains easily cleaned up using household cleaners. However, if your results were less than satisfactory, Unilock’s vast professional cleaners would be your next step.
Avoiding stains altogether is a tough one. Spills will happen. One way to make the clean up a bit easier would be to put a sealer on your project. There is a sealer for everyone’s taste, from invisible to a high gloss wet look. These will not only help in clean up, they will give your pavers a splash of personalization.
If you have not decided on your choice of pavers yet, or you would like to retro fit a high stain area, a great choice is Umbriano®. This paver comes armed with exclusive stain resistant technologies, such as EasyClean™ Stain Resistance Technology built in to make clean up that much easier.
