Patio pavers are prone to dirt, spills, and grease, especially if you use this space often to cook and entertain. Placing something underneath your cooking station can help to keep your patio pavers from getting grease on them.
Sometimes you forget to put something down to catch the grease. Other times spills happen away from your cooking spot. The question is how can you get rid of that stubborn grease on your patio pavers?
Here are some tricks:
Use soap and water
This should be your first instinct when you see fresh grease or oil on your patio pavers. To prevent grease from seeping into your paver and causing a stubborn stain, you need to put paper towels and rags on it right away to soak as much of the grease up as possible.
Once that’s done, you can mix dish washing liquid in a bucket of water. Then use a scrub brush with soft bristles to get rid of the grease before it absorbs more into the patio pavers. Never use a steel wire brush to scrub your pavers because it will do more harm than good to it.
Wash the soap off immediately so it doesn't dry. Dried soapsuds could leave ugly stains on your pavers.
Remember that this method only works efficiently for new stains. If the grease has been around for days or weeks, soap and water alone will not do the job.
Paver shampoo
There are special cleaning agents made for cleaning pavers. These cleaners are called paver shampoo. They are easy to use. You just dilute some of the paver shampoo in water and scrub with a brush.
Once you are finished scrubbing, wash the paver shampoo off.
Use a pressure washer
If there’s a lot of fresh grease or oil on your patio pavers, you can use high water pressure to get rid of the stain easily. A lot of professional cleaners use a pressure washer to spray stains and dirt from patio pavers efficiently.
If you have a pressure washer laying around the house, you can utilize it to get the job done fast. If you don't have one, you can get one fairly cheap at your local hardware store or online.
Just take extra precautions when using a pressure washer by adjusting the water pressure to a minimum to avoid causing damage to your pavers.
If you don't have access to a pressure washer, you can use a garden hose with a nozzle to adjust water pressure to spray the grease off of your pavers. You can also use this method to wash off the soap that you scrubbed on the pavers.
Use steam and lower pressure
High pressure water exerted by a pressure washer can damage brick pavers and dislodge sanding around your pavers. Sometimes this damage can cost thousands of dollars to repair.
To prevent damage from occurring to your brick pavers, you can use steam and low pressure to clean grease and other stains off of your pavers. The process uses a special flat surface cleaner that is attached to machine that super heats water.
The super heated water is forced out of the flat surface cleaner on to your patio pavers at a low pressure. Grease, oil, moss, and other gunk is dislodge by the steam and force upward to the surface. An extraction device is attached to the surface cleaner to collect and remove the grease and other unwanted material.
These steam cleaning machines are expensive. You could buy one, but it may not be worth the money if you are only going to use it once a year or less. You may find a local equipment rental company that rents surface cleaners. But I think there are not many that will carry this for rental.
More than likely, you will have to hire a professional to come out and perform the surface cleaning for you. It may be worth the money if your are concerned about damaging your pavers.
Use a degreaser
If you’re dealing with a very old or stubborn grease stain on your pavers, you might need the help of a degreaser. But you can’t just use any product out there. You should look for a degreaser that’s made specifically for the type of pavers you have.
Follow the instructions indicated on the product or ask a professional to recommend the right degreaser for your pavers to avoid causing damage to them.
You also have the option to use an oven cleaner to remove grease off your patio paver. Just leave the solution on the stain for 15-20 minutes and rinse it off after.
Make sure that you’re wearing a mask and gloves. Also, check that children are not near your patio pavers while you’re using the oven cleaner. Oven cleaners usually contain chemicals that could be harmful once inhaled or rinsed into garden plots, lawns, and drains.
An oven clean could possibly damage your pavers. You should use extra care to test before applying oven clean to all of your pavers.
As a natural alternative, use vinegar to clean your pavers. Vinegar is a natural degreaser and can help cut through the grease without all of the chemicals.
Use cat litter
Another smart trick to removing grease of your patio pavers is to use cat litter. If you have any fresh stains laying around, cover them with your conventional cat litter and leave it until the grease or oil is fully absorbed.
Once the liquid has dried up, you can simply remove the cat litter by sweeping it up and disposing of it properly.
Use baking soda
If you’re dealing with just a small grease stain on your patio paver, you can actually use baking soda because it is also effective in absorbing grease and getting rid of those stubborn stains. But baking soda will only work if the grease or oil is very shallow in your pavers.
What is that white stuff on my pavers
You may have noticed a white powdery substance on the surface of your patio pavers. This white stuff is not grease on your pavers. It is salt in your pavers reacting with moisture in the environment. The reaction causes salt deposits to form on the surface of your pavers. These salt deposits are called Efflorescence.
The salt deposits are nothing to worry about. The will come off with pressure washing or by scrubbing the surface with soap and water.
Extra tips
Before you try any of these tricks, however, you should learn some general rules in cleaning grease or oil off your patio pavers:
Talk to your contractor about your problem
Paver manufacturers know their product best, so it would be helpful to ask your contractor about any recommendations on how you can get rid of grease or oil from your patio pavers without damaging them.
Read the instructions on cleaning supplies
Don’t be too excited to dump cleaning solution on your patio pavers because you could end up damaging it and even getting hurt. Always read the instructions on how to properly mix, apply, and store cleaning solutions. You should also know what personal protective equipment to wear and what you should do in case you get into an accident.
Do a test run first
You can’t risk pouring a solution in the middle of your patio pavers and damaging them permanently. So before you use any product or try any method on the affected area, you need to test it out on an hidden area first to see if it has any bad effects on your pavers or not.
Always rinse your patio pavers thoroughly after applying product to it
Aside from diluting cleaning solutions properly, it’s also very important to rinse off any cleaning agents used on your patio pavers. This will ensure that chemicals don’t do any damage to them and make the space safe to use again. It’s even advisable to rinse off the plants near your paver to get rid of any possible traces of chemicals on them.
Never use hard bristled brushes on your paver
Whether you’re just cleaning your pavers or getting rid of some stains, you should always go for a soft, nylon brush to scrub your patio pavers to avoid scratching it.
Are you ready to finally get rid of that stubborn grease of your patio pavers?
