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A stone patio is a great addition to your home. With a little bit of cleaning you can keep it looking new for as long as you own your home. Most people will think that a pressure washer will do the trick, but this is not the case. Most stone patios use the friction of sand to hold them in place, a pressure washer will wash away this sand and actually damage your patio. Here is the correct way to wash it.
Mix 2 gallons of water with 1 quart of muriatic acid in a bucket. This will be your cleaning solution. Use a brush to apply the mixture to the stone and scrub it well. A brush with a good stiff bristle will do the job, obsessives will break out a toothbrush to get into every nook and cranny. I’d recommend a regular cleaning brush meant for dishes with a good handle on it to keep your hand comfortable.
Once you have scrubbed a stone give it a rinse with ordinary water. Allowing the acid to sit will result in your stone taking damage. You don’t have to do it after each stone, but the longer the acid sits the greater chance there is it will be damaged by the acid.
Now rinse that bucket out and fill it with water and bleach. The amount of bleach you will need will depend on the colour of the stone and how much dirt has accumulated. A lighter to white stone will require more bleach to get it looking clean, darker stones will not require as much. Now give it another scrub with your brush and rinse all of the bleach off. With these steps complete each of the rocks on your patio should be looking just as good as the day you installed them.
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