There’s no doubt that exterior tiles can make your outdoor area look gorgeous. Just imagine a garden beautifully landscaped garden with marble tiles, or even a patio with a striking design.
Not only will it continue to impress visitors, it will also continue to give you a sense of satisfaction and pride when you step out to inhale fresh air, and you see how beautiful your own property is. Clearly you will see that the stunning design is all worth it.
Yet while outdoor tiles can be pleasant to look at, they are also a nightmare to maintain particularly when you have been lax in housekeeping. While regularly brushing down the area every two weeks or so does wonders in keeping grime and dirt away, sometimes exterior tiles can become so dirty that it’ll take you several hours just to bring it back to some semblance of perfection.
If you’ve been neglecting your tiles for a long time and you are ready to get rid of the mud, grim, and muck, here’s what you need to do to bring them back to their former glory. Slap on your gloves, because it’s time to get down and dirty.
What You’ll Need:
- An outdoor broom
- A garden hose or a pressure washer
- A cleaning detergent that is appropriate for your tiles
- A bucket
- A long-handled scrub brush
- A long-handled squeegee
Before preparing to clean your exterior tiles, make sure that you have at least a day or two free, so try to schedule this during a weekend. You’ll need roughly half a day or a whole day to clean your outdoor area, depending on how large the space is. Then you’ll probably need a day to recover, because trust us, your muscles will be sore after all the scrubbing, particularly if you’re doing this for the first time!
Once you’re committed to see the project through, it’s time to start scrubbing!
- First, you’ll need some good old-fashioned elbow grease. This means you can forego your workout routine for the day, because you’ll be working out as your brush down your exterior tiles!
- Start on the further corner and make sure you see an exit point — you don’t want to keep on brushing only to realise you’ll have to step over already swept tiles!
- Once the loose dirt is gone, it’s time to wash it down! A pressure washer works wonders on stubborn stains and marks on exterior tiles, but if you’re unfamiliar with them, seek a professional cleaner’s help as doing so can injure you or damage your property. If you don’t have a pressure washer, then plain water from the garden hose is fine. You’re hosing down the area to make the cleaning easier, so make sure you do this thoroughly.
- The next step to cleaning your exterior tiles is to fill the bucket with water and mix in the cleaning detergent that is most appropriate for your tiles. Remember that each kind of flooring has a different kind of cleaning solution — you don’t want to damage your tiles, after all! Mix the solution thoroughly, then dip the long-handled scrub brush into the mixture, and start scrubbing, portion-by-portion! Try to plan your movements so you don’t get stuck in mid-stride.
- 4.You’re almost done! Your tiles are almost back to their former glory — but not quite! Water down the area again to flush it and remove the cleaning solution. Then it’s time to remove water from your exterior tiles by using the squeegee! If you let the tiles dry on their own, the water will just accumulate dust and you’ll have an even messier outdoor floor.
If you’ve successfully completed these four steps, then congratulations, you managed to clean your outdoor tiles on your own! Remember though to give the area a thorough scrub down every now and then so you don’t have to work with so much dirt.
While exterior tiles are beautiful to look at, it is your responsibility as the homeowner to ensure that your outdoor flooring is consistently maintained for the years to come. Not maintaining your tiles properly can cause lasting damage that may be expensive to repair, and even more costly to replace!