Do you love utilising the outdoor living spaces in a home? One of the best methods to create a fantastic exterior is through the addition of a patio or porch. If you look up popular design websites, you will discover a plethora of pictures that take you to a fantasy dreamland. Choose a layout that seamlessly blends in with your garden; it will incredibly enhance the style of your driveway/ backyard and home.
Introducing a patio adds usable space outdoors. There are various designs to choose from. So, what do you think is the right choice for your home? It is important to choose the right construction material, and an experienced installer for a quality finish. A professional can establish what type of finishes your property would need. An upward trend is to choose concrete to build patios/porches. They are eco-friendly, durable, versatile, low-maintenance, budget-friendly – making homeowners look at them with renewed interest and love. Are you looking for professional concreters in Gold Coast? Decorative Concrete has been providing high-grade concrete finishes for driveways, paths and patios; they also do concrete resurfacing, ornate concreting, and repair work at affordable prices.
Tips to keep your concrete porch and patio in pristine condition
Since it is located outside, porches and patios require more regular maintenance than the inside of your home. If you fail to look after it well, there will be accumulation of dust and debris over a period of time. Your leisure time is for you to enjoy the outdoors. Even if you choose high-end materials, you have to find expert installers for your concrete resurfacing in Gold Coast, without the addition of significant expenses. Here’s how to care for your concrete patio and porch to keep it beautiful:
- Clearing the patio: Once you clear the space, only then you will be able to handle the cleaning job much better. The rule of thumb to removing the clutter of any space, before clearing it out, is to first get everything off the floor. Get your pets off, remove any furniture, potted plants, dead leaves, rugs, newspapers, and whatever else is lying on that floor. Sweep the floor and dampen the concrete with one wash of water.
- Clearing out stains: This requires special cleaning agents for concrete most of the times. Stains are really hard to remove, especially once it sets in to your floor. Concrete has pores in them, which allows easy seepage of anything that falls on it. How do you try to draw them out? Take your cleaning agent. Make a very thick paste from it, it should resemble the consistency of cake batter. Apply a scoop of this paste directly on the stain. Smudge it around and allow it to sit for five to six hours. This would allow it to dry, after which you need to scrape it all off. Rinse and repeat, till the stain wears off.
- Scrubbing away: First, sweep away all the dirt using a broom. Rinse the floor once with some water. Not everyone owns a jet sprayer or pressure cleaner to deal with their cleaning jobs. You can use a concrete cleaning agent — start by making a thick paste and apply it over the concrete floor. Let it stay for a couple of minutes, and then start to scrub with a bristle brush. Add some water when you find it difficult to move your brush. Once you are happy with removing all the grime and dirt, hose it all down with a garden pipe. You can use your thumb to create pressure if you do not have a nozzle.
- Frequency at which you should clean: If you have large trees on your property, or you are located on the roadside, it would be advisable to clear your porch every week or two. Some people clean every month. And most people, clean their porches once every year. If you do use your porch on a regular basis, it is better to be fairly regular with maintaining it.
- Drying the patio: Leave the place to dry well before you start loading up all the furniture again. Do not place back any element that does not belong there. Be mindful of keeping the space as minimalistic as possible. This not only looks great, but also helps to ease up regular maintenance. Ensure that all of the cleaning agent has been rinsed off the floor, before proceeding to dry it.
So, now that you know how to clean that concrete, you don’t have to worry about extending your entertaining outside. If you are looking for more space outdoors for entertaining your guests, or you just want to increase your property value, building a concrete patio would be a natural and wise choice.
