Cleaning slabs.

[ericmark]

I have extended the paved area with slabs and brick sets, there are a few slabs which are covered with a moss or lichen, and need to clean them so they match the new slabs. Some were cleaned by the gardener before he had a heart attack, () and they do match, but not likely to see him for some time, so looking for some other way to clean them.

Under the watering can are the ones requiring cleaning.

 

[Wayners]

Use Patio magic.
Give it a few weeks to really work as the instructions say.

Quick way is a jet wash. Messy and not much fun.

Non bio washing powder and a stiff brush and water is another way as more sensitive, especially with old coloured slads

 

[Burnerman]

+1 for Patio Magic - being the ultimate sceptic about 'green' products, I used this stuff 6 weeks ago on my patio, and there isn't any sign of greenery returning so far.
John

 

[StephenOak]

.

 

[StephenOak]

For hard surfaces like patios then something containing benzalkonium chloride (BAC) is the appropriate product. That includes Patio Magic (which I have used) and a number of other products. The branded products are c. 7% BAC and you dilute it down to c. 2%.

Patio Magic, etc, are relatively expensive. For regular use you can buy BAC at 50% which is much more economical.

NB Any moss killer will only kill the moss, that is all, it will not remove the dead moss. On a patio the dead moss will need to be removed. Hopefully it will be relatively loose and so can be brushed out.

+1 for Patio Magic - being the ultimate sceptic about 'green' products,

I have no idea what the Patio Magic packaging says but it is not at all a 'green' product. BAC is synthetic and is used in loads of places; eye drops; soaps, shampoos, hand sanitiser and such like; mouth wash and plenty of others.

 

[ericmark]

Non bio washing powder and a stiff brush and water is another way as more sensitive, especially with old coloured slads

Think that is the first to try. Thanks.

 

[Odds]

Think that is the first to try. Thanks.

Apply the method to a small test area first, though: it doesn't react well with natural stones.

 

[ericmark]

Tried to clean with wire brush on trimmer, failed, so soap powder next.

 

[Wayners]

If you use bio washing powder it has bleach in making it more powerful.
Depends on what you want

 

[Odds]

Be v. careful about using a trimmer to wire brush the area with washing powder: nearby plants won't like any splashback.

 

[Odds]

Reported in the Grauniad: Nearly half of the UK’s garden space is paved over, a new study has found. Researchers from the RHS and AI mapping company Gentian plotted 25.8m gardens, amounting to 959,800 hectares (2.37m acres) or 4.6% of the total UK land area. They found that gardens contained an area three times bigger than all of the UK’s national nature reserves combined. The report found 42% of domestic garden space is paved over (55% of front garden space and 36% of back garden space). Paving over large sections of garden reduces space for nature as well as exacerbating flooding as water has nowhere to go.

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It's been a bugbear of mine for some time about how much paving has taken over gardens across the country; dedicated spaces intended for gardens when houses were originally built, especially during the first half of the 20th century, are now havens for vehicles that contribute to the pollution adversely affecting our environment and health.

It also found there were 18m square metres of artificial grass across all cultivated green space. Seven and a half million square metres of this is in domestic gardens.

Stop this madness!

 

[ericmark]

Trimmer did not work, the disk was too small, the paved area has increased less than a square meter, it was already paved, but was a slope, now flat so can place garden chairs on it, and also makes it easier to get my e-bike out of the patio doors.

I used ash from local steam trains under the paving slabs, which is very porous, so water is not retained too much, but it still retains water more than the original.

We must have over 30 trees in the garden, and it is quite amusing watching the squirrels, unfortunately grey, but pole cats are getting closer year by year. So soon they will be gone.

Soap powder is down, so now need to wait a month or two.

 

[Odds]

Trimmer did not work, the disk was too small, the paved area has increased less than a square meter, it was already paved, but was a slope, now flat so can place garden chairs on it, and also makes it easier to get my e-bike out of the patio doors.

I used ash from local steam trains under the paving slabs, which is very porous, so water is not retained too much, but it still retains water more than the original.

We must have over 30 trees in the garden, and it is quite amusing watching the squirrels, unfortunately grey, but pole cats are getting closer year by year. So soon they will be gone.

Soap powder is down, so now need to wait a month or two.

Thirty trees with squirrels? sounds nuts to me.