Tips for keeping your patio pristine

by Rosie Romero

A great selling point for a natural-stone or concrete patio is that it lasts a long time 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 a couple of years.

Even so, there’s probably no need to replace your patio. Dan Brewer, president of Acu-Chem in Phoenix, says almost any patio surface can be cleaned to look like new.

Some tips for keeping your investment looking like a showpiece:
• 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 professional 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 about an hour for every 200 square feet. Reseal the floor every year.
• Keep it clean. A sealed patio will repel spills from the barbecue grill, so usually you can wipe them up with a wet sponge. An unsealed floor absorbs 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.
• Sweep it instead of hosing 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, including 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, which is ugly and a bear to scrub off (vinegar works on efflorescence). Sealing helps prevent this.

For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com. Rosie Romero 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.-noon Saturdays on KNST-AM (790) in Tucson and from 8-11 a.m. Saturdays on KAZM-AM (780) in northern Arizona.

Taken from http://www.azcentral.com/