I was called to look at a Sandstone patio that had been laid some years before at a property in Sevenoaks and was now in need of renovation. The patio was designed to mirror the White Porcelain tiles in the adjacent kitchen and dining room giving the effect of continuation from house to back garden. As you can see from the photograph this was no longer be the case!
The UK weather had taken its toll since installation and the patio needed some love and attention to get it back to its original state. The area was quite large and was an ideal spot for entertaining, so they were keen to get the renovation done. I visited site and gave them a quotation for the deep clean work which they were happy to accept. We agreed a date for the work to commence but it would be dependent on the weather.
Cleaning a Sandstone Tiled Patio Floor
Fortunately, the weather gods have been kind to us and I was able to start the work on the agreed date. To loosen off the excessive black and white spot fungi I began by giving the patio a jet wash. Then a liberal dose of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied which was left to soak in for ten minutes and break down the soiling. This is a concentrated, multi-purpose high-alkaline cleaner, stripper and degreaser that can be diluted at varying strengths depending on need. It is effective on mildew, algae and other damp festering growths in areas that have been neglected or subjected to heavy use.
After ten minutes the solution was scrubbed into the patio with a rotary floor scrubber fitted with a black scrubbing pad. This action lifted the dirt, and the slurry was vacuumed off. The next process in removing the remaining stubborn marks and blemishes was to use Tile Doctor Patio & Brick Driveway Cleaner. This is a very strong product which was applied neat and left for two hours to allow time to break down the deep-seated staining. When sufficient time had been allowed for the product to work, the area was rinsed off thoroughly using the pressure washer again. The patio looked a lot cleaner already, there were just a few rust marks to deal with.
Removing Rust Stains from a Sandstone Tiled Patio
Now that the patio was clean, I applied Tile Doctor Rust Away to remove rust marks left by the garden furniture over the winter. This turned the stains into a purple residue as the chemicals started reacting with the rust. The residue was rinsed off as before and the whole patio given one final rinse with water before leaving it to dry in the sun.
I think you can agree that the results were amazing, and the patio once again was a near match to the interior flooring. My clients were over the moon with the transformation. I suggested they may wish to use the annual maintenance plan, where we could return annually to maintain the patio which would prevent it from getting this bad again. They agreed this would be a good way forward.
Source: Sandstone Cleaning and Restoration Service in North Kent