In our final piece for everyday tasks that help make a big difference in cleaning, we go outside the home and take a closer look at the patio. Patio upkeep and cleaning is a whole different ball game than your typical, inside the home cleaning. Depending on where you live and what type of environment your patio is exposed to, your plan of attack may differ somewhat. Despite that, there are a number of tips and tricks that anyone can follow to combat some of the most common patio problems. A patio usually consists of the same basic elements for everyone; a stone or stone-like floor and surfaces, outdoor furniture, plants, and exterior décor. We have looked at some of the most common practices and boiled them down for you here.
When it comes to outdoor work and cleaning, tools of the trade are the name of the game. There is no substitute for using the right tool for the right reason in the face of the natural elements which tend to be much harsher than the inside domains we occupy more often. The best tools for keeping your patio clean on a daily basis are a hose, a large broom, and gloves.
With the right tools on hand, you can more easily establish a daily or semi-daily set of tasks for a routine. With the hose, you can get in a simple spray down more often to reduce the build-up of dirt and grime which can attract bugs. A large, hard bristle contractor broom is great to keep on hand for patios for similar reasons to the hose and can be used to brush off large natural debris that a hose has more difficulty with. It is also very satisfying to quickly brush down your deck with a large broom as this tends to feel like a completion for the quick clean. Gloves are great to keep on hand for many reasons, but one very helpful thing is to use them for pulling weeds in the cracks of the floor. Nature has a relentless aspect to it and so pulling up these weeds immediately as you see them can help with the longevity of your patio in general.
Patio furniture is the other big piece of the puzzle along with the exterior of the house and windows. It’s not easy to wipe down furniture and surfaces daily so other methods can be employed to increase the time between needed deep cleans. Using furniture covers nightly for your patio pieces is a great idea. Most people use one for their grills and the same principle can be applied to furniture, even if you get daily use out of them. Storage of covers and other patio items requires a handy deck box. These boxes are just fantastic for keeping your yard items, toys, and tools consolidated and still available.
What is important about the patio is that you want to keep it manageable. It is not so much about finding one specific thing that can be done daily, but more so about picking from a variety of little tasks and specific areas of focus each day and spreading it out more evenly over time. This will cut down on the difficulty and headache of managing a clean patio.
