Sandstone cleaning

This Yorkstone patio renovation was completed earlier this year in Shepperton. The hot summer had kept me busy with requests for patio cleaning and this example was probably the worst one I had worked on and makes a good example of what can be achieved.

This stone patio had not been touched for a few years and due to the surrounding trees and other vegetation it was badly stained with what appeared to be mould deep in the stone. It was clearly going to be a challenging project and I set my customers’ expectations accordingly. Keen to have the patio restored into working order I got the go ahead to do the work which compared with cost of replacing it made a lot of sense and would extend the life of the patio.

Cleaning and Restoring Yorkstone Patio in Shepperton

I pre-treated the entire area with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and left it to dwell for about 15 minutes, so it could get a start on breaking down the soil. This is a highly concentrated multi-purpose high-alkaline cleaner which is great on heavily soiled areas, breaking down the dirt and the lichen. This was then scrubbed in using a rotary machine and stiff buffing brush.

This was followed by pressure washing and rinsing the entire area with water, removing the soiled waste with a wet vacuum. It is always a little easier carrying out this type of messy job as we are outside. This process took much of the day to complete and got the Yorkstone slabs so much cleaner. The warm beige colour of the stone was mostly restored and quite a transformation from the original.

At this point I would normally consider sealing the stone to protect it, in fact Tile Doctor has a new sealer called X-Tra seal available which is brilliant for external stone. In this case the owner was considering having the whole thing replaced the following year so decided not to bother.

 

Clean and Restoration of an Yorkstone Patio in Middlesex