When you decide to decorate the outside of your home with stone,
whether it is the siding of your house or the walkway, you want to make sure it’ll
stay looking its best. A few weeks ago, we told you how to clean moss from stone
on the exterior of your home. Moss can get in between the deepest cracks of
your stone pavers, and maintaining a cleaning schedule for them is necessary to
keep such a problem under control.
However, more than just weeds and moss can grow around and on
the decorative stone and pavers outside your home. Mold is commonly known to
grow in between cracks and separations of pavers, as well as on top of them,
and unlike weeds or moss, you can’t just scrub it away or yank it out with your
hands.
Mold growing on your pavers can become an issue, if you let it.
If you live in an area where mold grows quickly due to extra moisture in the
air, you may not be able to get rid of it permanently, but we’ll tell you just
how to keep it as manageable as possible.
Before you start, check the weather. Make sure you’re taking
this project on when it’s warm outside. The sun will help the stone dry faster,
plus, a rainy day isn’t the best day to decide to remove mold outdoors.
First, clean the surface of the pavers to get any regular dirt
off before you get down to the nitty gritty. Use a broom to sweep the entire
area, and then hose the pavers down. By doing an initial clean with just water,
you’ll make sure your cleaning solution will be as effective as possible without
any dirt or extra rocks in the way.
To make your solution, add 1 part bleach to 10 parts water in a
bucket and swirl to combine. Using a mop, scrub the mixture onto the pavers.
Use some elbow grease to make sure the solution seeps through every bit of the mold
on the stone and between the cracks.
Once you’ve cleaned the entire area, let the sun dry the
solution into your stone. Not only will it sink into the mold, but it’ll dry it
out and make it easier to remove. Once dry, spray the whole area with a hose thoroughly,
removing the bleach mixture.
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| Check out these beautiful (and might we say, very clean) pavers from Monarch Stone! |
If you want to take this project one step further, refer back to
our blog on how to clean weeds and moss from your stone here http://bx3.me/DjSnfRZM. Keeping plants
near your pavers cut as short as possible will not only keep them looking neat,
but will lower the chance that mold will grow from plant moisture.
Quick tips: Make sure your cleaning solution doesn’t
get on any plants you DO like, as it will kill them. If your pavers are
surrounded by plants you want to keep, use a sponge instead of a mop to scrub
your stone. Wear gloves to protect your hands.
We love this technique because you can use it as an
overall cleaning method, a preventative method, and for spot cleaning. Clean
pavers are happy pavers!
