Oil and grease are probably some of the toughest to get up off patios but they come up with some hot water and patio cleaning products which contain alkalizers. Look at the ingredients of the product to tell whether or not it has an alkaline degreaser. Most product websites now have this listed on them. The hot water will cause the oil to come up and float (more than cold) and the degreaser will continue to cut and break down the oil. I found that some degreasers will leave a weird looking shiny wet spot on concrete, so make sure you are using a good patio cleaning product.

Rust is as bad as oil. It goes deep into concrete pores and is a toughy. Products with oxalic acid work best as they remove rust well. Use these patio cleaning products with goggles or glasses because you don’t want this caustic stuff in your eyes. You might have to repeat several times before you get that rust stain up. I had to work on mine a bit but it finally came clean. Let the solution stand for several minutes before you start brushing it out.

Mildew and dirt seem to come up best with products that have bleach in them. Again, check the label. Use rubber or latex gloves and a bucket of water. Don’t get the patio cleaning product on you as it has chemicals in it. Let the solution stand for at least 10 minutes and remove. Scrub it with the hottest water you have.

Remove rubber tire marks or other rubber with brake cleaner. I know that’s not a patio cleaning product per se, but it works wonders. Let it sit for a bit to dissolve the rubber and then wash down. Brake cleaner works on many stains around the house as well. Experiment.

Some patio cleaning products have TSP or Tri-sodium phosphate in them. This works as an agent that breaks down stains. Some products may come with hydrochloric acid in them. This will etch part of the concrete away, so use these products with caution. Make sure you follow label directions and work with gloves and eye protection. You should be able to get up all the stains and have a great looking patio as well.

One of the challenges is getting the surface dry enough to put down a good sealer without it coming back up. Sealers make cleaning easier, but are not proper in all locations and so I’ll show you how to get what you have as clean as you can get it and keep it that way. What you may not realize is that concrete is more porous than you think and everything can stain it from mud to oil. If you do have stains, use a good concrete patio cleaner and rub it into the stain. Scrub it for a while to make sure the cleaner gets into the stain and concrete. Take a garden hose and rinse it off. But if that fails to get your stain out, then try a heavier solution of the concrete patio cleaner and let it sit. Some suggest using bleach and water, but I never had to go that route.

When you have a rust stain use this simple remedy. Take a one part vinegar to three parts of water and let that sit on the rust for a bit. Gently rub it into the stain and keep it on the stain for at least 20 minutes. When the time is up, again, take the garden hose and spray the area down. Your stain should come up with those solutions. But if they don’t, there is one other option you can try. We have discussed power or pressure washing before and this is one place you can use it. Many of the good concrete patio cleaners can be used with a pressure washer. You will need to mix your concrete patio cleaner according to the directions on the package. I go a little strong, and then use the uptake tube for the pressure washer. Start on the lowest pressure washing setting you can so that the soap solution is well dispersed onto the concrete.

Next, you’ll want to let that sit for 15 to 20 minutes. This is very hard to do if your patio is sitting in the sun. In this case, keep that low pressure spraying over the concrete every 5 minutes so it doesn’t dry out. Finally, adjust the pressure washer to the higher setting and blast those stains right off your patio, having the concrete patio cleaner soaked and done its job. You’ll find that the stains will come up and you can let that dry and if you’d like, get a good sealer for your clean, new patio surface.