Stained patio slabs, how to clean

Cyrus

My patio slabs have this stain all over them, not quite sure what it is,

wont come off with a power wash and have tried a few cleaning products with no joy

_Brian

Looks like sulphate of iron maybe, is it a sort of rust coloured.

Very hard to remove.

I’ve read online that vitamin c will remove it. Aparantly dissolve tablets in water and soak it on the stains.

Fr_Dougal

Steel wool and a heavy floor polishing machine should take it out. Use the steel wool as the pad under the machine.

daheff

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

Steel wool and a heavy floor polishing machine should take it out. Use the steel wool as the pad under the machine.

wont that take the surface off/damage the surface of the slabs though too?

drunkmonkey

Is there a co op anywhere near you, they have stuff for cleaning the floors of cattlesheds etc, it's take that off no problem got mine back as good as new. Make sure and wear full eye protection and gloves it's powerful stuff. Just pour it on and leave it for half an hour then get the power hose out.
I'll let you know the name of it later on as I need to buy some more.

theyoungchap

Are they granite? I had issues last year with granite steps. I used a bucket of hot, heavily bleached water, with a hard brush - needed plenty of elbow grease but it did the trick. They came up shining, but my problem was just that they were filthy with dirt/moss/everything for about 10 years!

Its worth a try but that deffo looks like iron sulphate, you would probably need to look at sand blasting them to get rid of that. I suspect it would just come back though because it is clearly water reacting with something but maybe you can get something to seal the surface a little bit.

Alternatively, I'd be getting the professionals to take a look and give you a quote.

Cyrus

thanks all

drunkmonkey id appreciate the name, a farmer friend of my dads may have recommended something similar!

if anyone can recommend someone who does this kind of work let me know

Fr_Dougal

daheff wrote: »

wont that take the surface off/damage the surface of the slabs though too?

No, it won’t harm the granite. It’s called vitrification.

cnoc

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Is there a co op anywhere near you, they have stuff for cleaning the floors of cattlesheds etc, it's take that off no problem got mine back as good as new. Make sure and wear full eye protection and gloves it's powerful stuff. Just pour it on and leave it for half an hour then get the power hose out.
I'll let you know the name of it later on as I need to buy some more.

Is it Chloras? If so, should it be diluted and in what ratio? Will it burn the grass in a lawn?

drunkmonkey

Yea you have to dilute it, has a cow on the front of it. Didn't get to co-op will get it tomorrow.