Similar to cleaning pavers with muriatic acid, avoid an intense concentration of bleach, as it can damage the pavers.
Whether your patio is sealed concrete or cement, or even sealed concrete pavers, a bleach and water solution makes it easy to clean away built up soil, stains from leaves and pollen, mold, mildew and algae.
And, while it may be tempting to use household bleach for a quick clean, Beril says that this can ruin the patio stones and leave them looking patchy. 'There are many specialist patio cleaning products on the market including brick acid,' she cautions.
Water and mild dish soap is a popular cleaning solution because it's easy to find at home and it won't damage brick, but it will tackle stains. The BIA recommends using hot water for surface cleaning with a detergent. White vinegar and water, another common household cleaner, can also be used on mildew.
Use soap and water, if the pavers are still dirty after sweeping and water hosing, make a solution of soap and water. You can use dish soap, laundry detergent, or any type of general-purpose cleaner. Never use bleach on your pavers, as it can damage the surface.
For human-made colored concrete paving slabs or concrete pavers, we don't recommend the use of bleach for cleaning. That's because the substance could fade your paver colors if regularly cleaned with bleach over a long period.
A dish soap, like Dawn, is a safe place to start. The surfactants in dish soaps are designed to remove oil and grease, they're gentle enough to be used without issue on your pavers. In a bowl or bucket, mix the soap with water and pour it onto the stain and agitate. Rinse and repeat if needed.
OxiClean is a powerful concrete cleaner that works well on various materials, including pavement and grout. This concentrated solution provides excellent cleaning without leaving residue.
Use a specialist cleaner
Try a specialist cleaner like Wet & Forget, at Walmart, which you spray onto the surface of the paving and leave. It can also be used on steps, fountains, patio umbrellas and other smaller outdoor areas. It's bleach-free and non-acidic but will remove mold, moss and grime without any scrubbing.
Use bleach for heavy-stained slabs
Dilute half a bucket of bleach with equal parts water, applying evenly to your green-tinged patio. You should leave the solution to work for ten minutes before rinsing thoroughly with clean water, repeating the method for stubborn algae.
Bleach will kill grass, flowers, and other vegetation as well, so take care where you aim!
That means that we have used 1 measure of bleach to 5 equal parts of water. You can vary the strength of the cleaner by mixing more bleach or more water depending on how dirty the paving is. But a mix of 5 – 1 should be sufficient to clean and kill weeds, moss & algae on most types of patio paving slabs.
However, you should exercise meticulous care and caution since bleach can discolor your brick pavers and thus ruin your precious hardscape. Since bleach can have such strong impact on your hardscape and lawn, you should test it first in a small and inconspicuous patch.
As a gentler cleaner, bleach can't harm concrete's durable material. Aside from being an effective cleaner and stain remover, it also acts as a disinfectant to the concrete surface.
White vinegar is good for cleaning pavers, though it's also acidic enough to erode the stones' surface. Diluted vinegar can be used safely to clean paving stones, though it should be used sparingly and infrequently to protect your paving from damage.
If vinegar does not do the trick, you can also try mixing about a cup of bleach for each gallon of water and using this as your mold-killing spray solution.
Although bleach is great at the whitening effect, you can use peroxide to achieve this. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxygenated bleach. It is safe for plants, so when you rinse this solution, it won't harm anything. It works together with the dish soap and baking soda to remove dirt and whiten dirty concrete.
A mix of water and vinegar is a great combination to remove stubborn dirt and stains. If you want even better results, use this mix with a cleaner solution specific made for pavers or soap and water.
Can you power wash pavers? Power washing (also known as pressure washing) is also a very effective method by which you can remove dust deposits and various stains from your pavers. Just make sure that the water jet is not directed directly at the joints between the paving stones.