How to: Terrace cleaning and maintenance

If you have a terrace overlooking your garden, it is essential that you maintain it regularly. Without this, your terrace risks becoming clogged, welcoming moss, leaves, and stains due to the sun. Now is the time to take care of it. To prevent all these problems and learn all about the maintenance and cleaning of your terrace, follow these tips from a seasoned professional cleaning company in Melbourne.

How to refresh a wooden deck?

The wooden deck is by far the most difficult to maintain. The material it is made of makes it particularly vulnerable to bad weather of all kinds. To limit the damage that time could cause, it is sometimes better to choose a composite wood deck.

It will withstand the combined attacks of rain and sun better, and its color will vary less suddenly than that of conventional wooden decks. The best way to clean a wooden deck is to use lukewarm water with a little black soap.

Then, just rub with a broom or a small hand brush in the direction of the grooves of the wood to have more grip on the encrusted foams and thus take them off more easily. As soon as this is done, rinse with clear water several times if necessary to prevent traces of soap from remaining on your wooden deck. We should ideally do this cleaning 2 to 4 times a year to avoid any problems.

Tips and Advice

To avoid damaging your wooden deck, avoid the use of high-pressure jets as much as possible, but if you still want to try the experience, place the jet about 50 centimeters from the deck and choose low pressure. Has your terrace tarnished and lost all of its beautiful colors?

To help it regain its past splendor, do not hesitate to use a sobering agent, once applied, complete the operation by using a saturator. This maneuver will bring the pigments of the wood to the surface, which will have the effect of rejuvenating your terrace.

Unfortunately, the effect is not permanent. Finally, apply an oil capable of nourishing the wood and making it shine. Avoid using stains intended to protect the wood with a thin protective film, as this would quickly disappear under the action of rain and wind.

Cleaning a concrete patio

Concrete terraces, unlike wood, are very resistant. The professional cleaning will be done in the same way as for wooden decks, except that you can combine it with high-pressure cleaning to dislodge leaves and small weeds between the slabs. You can also use baking soda to clean stubborn stains.

Finally, if you want to remove a greasy stain, it is strongly recommended to soak a cloth with a little glycerine, then rub. With a little patience, the stain will eventually disappear. Cleaning your concrete patio after winter to repair the damage is an essential step, as well as in the fall to prevent it.

Recommendations

You can use coarse salt to remove localized moss on your concrete patio and make it look new. Finally, if your concrete terrace is covered in moss in its entirety, the ashes are your ally. Take a bowl of ashes and spread them evenly over the entire surface of your patio. Then leave it on for several days. On the fourth day, you just have to pass a broom to remove the ashes and mosses at the same time.

How to wash a tiled or stone terrace?

Stone terraces are a little more fragile than those covered with tiles. To maintain them, nothing better than mixing a little black soap or Marseille soap with lukewarm water, then rubbing with a brush. As usual, rinse thoroughly afterward. If your terrace is tiled, it will withstand shocks and humidity better without risk of deterioration.

However, be careful not to regularly use a high-pressure cleaner on its surface in order to preserve it and avoid it as much as possible on your more fragile stone terraces. Be careful, however, because the water and soap mixture could evaporate quickly in the event of high heat, causing encrusted stains that are difficult to remove on your stone terrace.

Good to know

The maintenance of a stone, tile, or brick terrace is simpler than that of wooden terraces. You can clean your terrace 2 to 3 times a year so that it regains a beautifully clean and new appearance. Then, do not hesitate to use white vinegar to spray all over your terrace after cleaning. This product will revive the shine of the surface and remove moss and lichen.

Baking soda, used with lemon, can make your joints come back so that they become immaculately white again. If your terrace has grease stains, you can disperse baking soda on the stain, then let it act and rub a little so that the stain disappears.

If the stain is stubborn, try the earth of Melbourne, just as with wooden terraces, it works miracles on grease stains that vanish on contact. Leave on for a few moments, rub then rinse or dust off the residue for an impeccable result.