Do you have a driveway, tennis court, or other concrete surface that’s stained? If so, then don’t pay a high price to have someone clean it. You can save some money and clean it yourself with household products that you have right in your own home. Here is a list of materials that you’ll need to clean your concrete surface:
Needed Materials
Slip-proof shoes (Wal-Mart sells Tred-Safe shoes for around $15 per pair.)
Caution: Begin by wearing your slip-proof shoes. Don’t even attempt this cleaning activity without wearing slip-proof shoes because you will surely end up on the concrete with a broken hip, injured back, or busted head. You’ll save lots of time and dollars in the long run, and you can toss them into the garage for the next time you clean the stains off your concrete.
First, put on your gloves to avoid blisters. Next, scrape up any gum that is on the concrete and discard. Be sure to sweep all dirt off the concrete because you want to scrub dirt out of, not into, your concrete. The water will muddy quickly, even if you think your concrete isn’t that dirty. Once, the concrete surface is clean of debris, take a water hose and wet the concrete with water.
You can use bleach to help with the stains, but you might end up with concrete that is permanently faded to a different shade once the stains lift. Try sprinkling the powder-style bleach for colored clothing over the concrete stains, rather than the traditional liquid bleach. This will be less harsh on the concrete and still give you some extra stain-lifting power.
Next comes the hard part. Begin with the stained areas of the concrete and use the industrial push broom to scrub in a back-and-forth motion, scrubbing as if you were scrubbing clothes by hand. Be sure to walk around the stain, scrubbing at different angles to help get into the concrete crevices. You might even need to put down some extra powder detergent and powder bleach.
Don’t scrub lightly. Put some back and arm muscle into it. This scrubbing process helps get your concrete surface clean, but it also gives you a good physical work out, too. As you scrub, you can see the dirt lift from the concrete surface because the soap and water turn dirty. Too, if you have stains on your concrete, the water turns the color of the stains.
Once you have scrubbed the concrete surface well, take the water hose and rinse all the soap and dirt off the concrete surface. If the concrete is slanted, be sure to wash the soap and dirt off in a downward direction. This helps the soap and dirt to move quickly and not redeposit itself into the concrete. Make sure that you get all the soap off the concrete area.
After you completely rinse off the soap, you can see the clean concrete surface. If your concrete has never been cleaned or is really dirty for some other reason, it might take more than one washing to get the best results. Either way, you can see a cleaner concrete area after it completely dries.
