Ways to Clean Your Driveways:
Dealing with Oil Stains
Dealing with Paint Stains
Dealing with Decomposed Leaves
Dealing with Rust Stains
Keeping the exteriors of a property such as patio, driveway, and pathway is, hands-down, one of the major responsibilities of a homeowner. Since, it’s the first thing that visitors notice, you would want to make a lasting impression. Here’re some ways to clean your driveway and free it from rust, fallen leaves, or oil stains.
Let’s start cleaning!
Simple Ways to Clean Your Driveway
If your driveway is covered in stains and oil spills, then you need to take immediate action. Leaving them to sit for long will only make them the job more difficult for you. Not to mention, unkempt driveways make a house appear unappealing and lessens the curb appeal.
Hence, we have listed the most-common types of stains and dirt that could accumulate on your driveway along with tips to driveway cleaning:
- Oil Spills
- Paint Stains
- Fallen Leaves
- Rust Stains
How to Deal With Oil Spills?
The visibility of a stain or spill highly depends on the foundation material of the driveway. Let’s say that the driveway is made up of asphalt, the stains are likely to be less prominent in comparison with a driveway that is built of concrete.
Cleaning oil spills from asphalt driveways is easier. The stain mixes with the petroleum formula present in the asphalt and loosens. It can then be lifted with a little scrubbing.
You can also soak up the fresh oil with a napkin, or you can spread some sand over the oil spill and let it soak the oil. Once dried, you can scoop-out the sand and sweep the area clean afterwards.
While these some of the popular ways to get rid of driveway stains, here’s how you can clean up the stains from all driveways immediately:
- For Asphalt: You can easily use any biodegradable cleaning agent and let it sit for up to 30 minutes. Afterwards, leave everything else on your garden hose.
On a side note, cleaning agents help loosen the oil stains, so that they are easily washed away by a soap solution. - For Concrete: The best way to clean a concrete driveway is if you use a moisture absorbing product and mix it with liquid TSP, spreading it over the area that is stained. Scrub the solution on the concrete using a nylon brush. Using an additional thin layer of the solvent will help break down the stain. This process might take a few hours to dissolve the stain. Once the process has been completed, you can use a knife to scrape off the stain and wash the remains of the solution away with a garden hose.
Note: The process might need to be repeated a few times, in cases where the stain is stubborn.
How to Remove Paint Stains?
‘How to clean your driveways if you spill paint’ – if that’s your question, we’ve an answer.
Paint stains can be a huge problem for both asphalt and concrete driveways. The cleaning trick depends on the type of paint that has been spilled.
With latex-based paint, the procedure is simple. All you have to do is make the splatter wet, and then use any cleaning powder to scrub it off with a nylon brush. Once you’ve scrubbed it off, you need to water down the driveway with the help of a pressure washer.
Oil and acrylic based paints are tougher to remove. They are highly variable on the type of driveway you’re dealing with.
- When dealing with an asphalt driveway, you need to cover the paint splatter with any asphalt sealer – this is done not only to cover the stain, but also renewing the colour of the driveway.
- For concrete driveways, it is fairly easy: all you need to do is pour a thinner or paint removing solution on the paint spill. Scrub it with a nylon brush. You can either let it rest for a few hours or do as directed on the bottle of the paint removing solution.
Note: Using an oil paint removing agent might damage the asphalt covering.
How to Clean Decomposed Fallen Leaves?
Plants in the driveway look absolutely stunning, but the fallen leaves don’t. If you don’t get a chance to immediately clean it up, you can end up with a dirty driveway.
As you would expect, the leaves decompose forming a bad-looking brown stain while making your driveway extremely unappealing. Asphalt driveways are easier to manage, as compared to concrete, where the colour stains would appear more prominent. Have you been thinking ‘how can I clean my driveway without a pressure washer? Follow the below-mentioned steps to clean decomposed fallen leaves from the driveway:
- Clean your driveway with the help of a broom.
- Spray it with a water hose to wash away the dirt.
- For the next step, you need to take a bucket, add half a cup of liquid dish detergent and 3 gallons of water.
- Use the water-based solution to rinse off the driveway.
- While the concrete is still wet, try adding a little detergent and scrubbing it off with a nylon brush.
- Repeat the steps, if necessary.
Note: You might need to repeat the process a few times before seeing visible changes.
How to Deal With Rust Stains?
Rust stains are manageable on asphalt driveways. The problem, however, arises when there are rust stains on concrete. Rust stains can develop in a very short period of time.
One simple way to counter rust stains could be the use of muriatic acid, that helps dissolve rust stains without much hassle.
- Carefully pour ¼ cup acid into a bucket, add 2 cups of water.
- Leave the acid on the stain for some time and then rinse it away with a water hose.
Note: Wear protective gloves at all times, when dealing with the muriatic acid.
In this blog, we discussed a number of ways to clean your driveway. In order to learn more about home maintenance, you might want to check out our blog on how to identify termite infestations. For more information and updates, subscribe to JagahOnline Blogs, and follow our Facebook Page.
Now that you have taken care of the exterior, it’s time you pay a little attention to the interiors of your home; if you’re seriously thinking about redecorating your interiors, you might want to read about low cost re-decoration ideas. While you’re at it, try to keep these dos and don’ts of interior designing in your mind.
If you have any queries, or feedback kindly contact us at blog@jagahonline.com. For more real estate opportunities, take a look at our website, and find the perfect property for you.
