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Tips for Keeping Your Patio Pristine

The Arizona Republic

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        A great selling point for a natural stone or concrete patio is that it lasts and lasts and needs very little maintenance.
        But “very little” doesn’t mean “none.”
If you install a beautiful outdoor patio floor and never give it a second thought, you could wind up with a stained, faded surface in as little as a couple of years.
        Even so, there’s probably no need to replace your patio. My friend Dan Brewer is president of Acu-Chem in Phoenix. He says almost any patio surface can be cleaned up to look like new.

Some tips for keeping your investment looking like a showpiece:

1. Seal it. Too few installers offer a penetrating seal when they lay a patio floor, yet Brewer says this step can protect the patio from damage and stains, and can even extend its life. You can hire a pro to seal your natural stone or concrete patio for less than $2 a square foot, or do it yourself for 20 cents to 40 cents a square foot. Be sure to scrub it clean, remove grease stains and thoroughly dry it before you apply a seal. It’s a two-person job that will take around an hour for every 200 square feet. Reseal the floor every year.
2. Keep it clean. A sealed patio will repel spills from the barbecue grill so you usually can wipe them up with a wet sponge. An unsealed floor will absorb grease, which can leave an ugly mark on the stone. Clean it up with a lacquer thinner. You also can buy natural stone cleaner from any home store. White vinegar works, too, but don’t use it on travertine, marble or limestone. It will “etch” the raw stone.
3. Sweep it—don’t hose it off. Water is not your patio’s friend. An unsealed stone or concrete patio is porous, so it absorbs water. It also absorbs everything the water carries with it, like dirt, rust from your metal patio furniture and calcium, which is an unfortunate component of Arizona’s “hard” water. When the patio dries, those minerals surface as a whitish film—called “efflorescence”—that is ugly and a bear to scrub off (vinegar works on efflorescence). Sealing helps prevent efflorescence.

 
For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com.  Rosie Romero is an Arizona contractor who has been in the Arizona home building and remodeling industry for 35 years. He has a radio program from 8-11 a.m. Saturdays on KTAR-FM (92.3), from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KNST-AM (790) in Tucson, and from 8 –11 a.m. Saturdays on KAZM-AM (780) in Northern Arizona.

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