Hello Youtubers! Bruce Alan here. Today I'm going to show you how to remove moss from
and clean concrete patio pavers. This is how I turned our patio from a mossy, slimy, stinky,
green-algae-covered, weed infested space to this... a clean, pleasant, entertainment-worthy
oasis, which we only use to entertain maybe twice a year. In case you don't want to watch the entire
video I'll start by summarizing my process although I do offer some helpful tips so you
may want to stick around. Anyway, First you remove the moss with a putty knife or pressure washer;
Make any needed repairs to raised, sunken, and sagging pavers; Put down 30 Seconds Cleaner to
remove years of staining; Power rinse it; and Finally, fill the joints with polymeric sand.
That's it! I say it like it's a 30 second job but it's not. See the information section below
to jump to a specific point in the video. Let's get started. Truth be told the best solution
for preventing or mitigating moss is to increase sunlight in shady areas and correct any drainage
issues. Unfortunately cutting back trees wasn't an option for us. They belong to the neighbors
and provide us with privacy. So the only solution was maintenance, which once restored, the patio
will only require every few years. Step one is to clear the moss and weeds from between the pavers.
That's where a putty knife or pressure washer come in. I started with my Ryobi 1900 PSI
electric pressure washer using the included turbo nozzle, but after pushing around large piles of
stinky muck and realizing how much water I was using, I switched to a putty knife. Keep in mind
if you use a pressure washer all that disgusting muck has to be pushed somewhere. If your backyard
already has a moss problem, like ours, it'll make it worse. Moss will chuck out the grass.
I divided the patio into sections and I tackled them one at a time; hence, why I didn't remove
all the furniture. Note to self: Next time remove the furniture. Using a putty knife I scraped out
all the moss, swept up the debris with a dust pan and broom, and then put it out with the yard
waste. Step two is to make repairs. We had uneven pavers that had been pushed up by tree roots,
pavers that had sunken, and others that were sagging. I removed those pavers paying close
attention to the pattern and orientation and used a multi tool to cut out any roots.
A drill with a speedbore bit will work too and hey, use whatever works. Once roots are out
you screed the area, compact the crushed stone, and replace the pavers. To temporarily hold the
pavers in place I used play sand so the pressure washer could clean it out later. For any sagging
edge pavers consider using plastic edging with plastic pins. I did that in our herb garden.
The next cleaning steps can probably be combined but I did them separately because I was hoping I
wouldn't need to use chemicals. What was I thinking? Step three for me was to use the
pressure washer to remove any remaining debris from between pavers as well as remove the green
algae that had formed on the surface over the past decade. Yes, it's been that long since I've shown
this patio some love. My other half was fond of what she referred to as, "Our mossy English
garden patio," however, once the weeds came in and the backyard started to smell like a bog,
not to mention moss can be a slipping and tripping hazard, she gave me permission to clean it up.
So as before I divided the patio into sections. You'll notice that at times too much water puddle
up in certain areas so I used a battery powered blower to push the water into the lawn and into
the driveway. I should also point out that power washing is a messy job. Anything within six feet
is likely to get dirty including myself. I occasionally switched from a turbo cleaning
nozzle to a rinse nozzle to rinse off surrounding areas like the house, stairs, shed, and fence.
Just a tip for drying wet shoes.... stuff them with newspaper. Works great! Here's what the patio
looked like when I was done pressure washing with water and you can see the color isn't consistent
across all the pavers. You can see where the fire pit was because those pavers are protected from
the elements so I needed to do a deep cleaning. To deep clean the pavers and kill moss and weeds
I used 30 Seconds Cleaner. It's basically industrial strength bleach, which meant safety
equipment's required. It gets mixed with water at a ratio of 1 part water to 1 part 30 Seconds
Cleaner and should be applied with a pump sprayer. As with any cleaner you'll want to test it in an
inconspicuous area first like I did following the instructions. You apply and you wait.
30 Second Cleaner takes longer than the name implies when cleaning masonry. You actually
have to put it down and wait 15 minutes. Once that was done I rinsed it off with a garden hose ,blew
away the water, and scrubbed with a deck brush although the deck brush really wasn't necessary.
Once I'd confirmed that the cleaner was safe I applied it in sections using a pump sprayer.
While one section soaked I applied it to another section, then I went back and rinsed the first
section using a rinse nozzle on the power washer. So on and so forth. My only regret
was not having a larger pump sprayer. I must have refilled that thing 10 times.
30 Seconds Cleaner isn't supposed to harm grass or plants when rinsed well, but either way I'm
sure my other half wouldn't be happy knowing I was spraying it around the herb garden.
Once rinsed the paver joints need to dry thoroughly and then it's time to fill the gaps
with polymeric sand. I'll show you later why you should use polymeric sand instead of play sand.
Depending on what time of year you're doing this project you'll also want to have tarps available
because while the pavers dry you don't want mother nature to be dumping maple helicopters,
leaves, acorns, and other things between the pavers. I realized that a little late so I
had to do some additional cleanup with a putty knife, shop vac, and I even used the blower.
So a few days later once everything was dry, it was time to fill the gaps with sand.
I'm going to show you this step on our front walk since I forgot to turn on the cameras.
We're going to look at footage from the security cameras. I apologize. At the recommendation of a
buddy of mine, who's done a lot of patio work, I used PaverMate Z3 sand. It's easy to use. There's
no hazing, no dust, and it's rain safe in 10 minutes although I wouldn't want to test that.
Either way use a good quality sand or you'll be revisiting this video in a year.
You'll roll the bag to mix the sand, dump small piles, and sweep the sand into the
cracks. Don't push the piles long distances to avoid separating the sand from the polymer.
You're supposed to apply the sand and then use a compactor to vibrate the material down between the
pavers, but I didn't have a compactor so I used a rubber mallet. Not the best method but it works.
Once the sand is down I idled my gas blower and used it to adjust the sand
to an eighth of an inch below the top of the pavers. You don't need to do that.
Some people like their pavers to have that cut out look. Other people like it filled to the top,
but it really doesn't matter. Once that was done I wet down the sections. You run the water over
the sand for about two minutes and that pushes it down between the pavers.
Once dried, the sand creates a nice tight bond which will prevent weeds.
That's why you want to use polymeric sand over play sand. Here's the patio before...
and after.
I hope this video has been helpful. If it has, press that LIKE button like it
filched your favorite lawn gnome and consider subscribing. That keeps the channel going.
Thanks so much for watching. I guess now we gotta have a garden party.
"Nice dob jad!" Nice dob jad? "Yeah" Now go take care of your patio. It's worth it!