How to Properly Clean Your Concrete Steps

What are some effective ways to clean your home’s concrete steps?

Believe it or not, you don’t have to resign yourself to those hideous stains plaguing your outdoor steps. There are ways to clean and restore them to almost brand new condition. We’ll show you how to do that and offer our assistance whenever it’s time to replace damaged concrete.

Easy Ways to Clean Concrete Steps

1. Hire a Pressure Washing Service – This might be the most judicious and least time-consuming way to approach the task. There are plenty of contractors who specialize in pressure washing for windows, siding, and especially concrete surfaces. Many of them also offer paver sealing, which could come in handy if you want to preserve stamped concrete surfaces. It may be well worth your time to hire someone to eliminate all the algae, mold, dirt, and grime on the steps.
2. DIY Cleaning – The other solution would be to try your own hands at pressure washing. We’d put this in the “maybe” section because it assumes you either own (or could rent) a pressure washer. Plus, you have to know how to use the hot and/or high PSI water safely. Fortunately, there is another DIY cleaning solution, one that involves slow-washing with a decent cleaning agent. Some homeowners forge a mixture of water and Oxyclean to create a cleaning paste with about the same consistency as peanut butter. You can apply this with a hand brush and scrub your steps, followed by an easy hose rinsing.

When You May Need to Replace Your Concrete Steps

Alas, you may have serious damages (like cracks or sunken concrete) that you cannot clean, and have to replace it. These are the signs you should hire Johnson Concrete to replace your steps.

• The concrete surfaces on each step have gotten very uneven and cause you to trip or stumble.
• You notice chunks of concrete missing from the steps.
• There are several large cracks jutting across them.

These problems are telltale signs that the concrete has aged beyond its life expectancy, has endured lots of heavy weight, or suffered through years of consistent foot traffic. At any rate, don’t let severe deterioration last too long, or your steps will become an eyesore and safety hazard.

Other Cleaning Tasks – Indoor Garage Floors

Most of what we wrote for concrete stairs applies the same for all outdoor concrete surfaces (driveways, sidewalks, etc.). However, you can also address stains to garage floors as well, provided you approach indoor tasks a little differently.

Once again, this is an area where you can pressure wash, but since it’s indoors, you’ll want to be cautious about how you handle the water (including drainage). There are also some helpful tricks to assist with stain removal such as using cat litter or sawdust on difficult grease stains. Some homeowners also use dishwasher detergent to scrub certain stains out of their garage floor.

Johnson Concrete: Kansas City’s Best Contractor for All Things Concrete

While it’s possible to clean your concrete surfaces and restore them to a newer condition, you should always exercise caution with cleaners and pressure washers. It’s not unheard of for folks to use improper settings and do significant damage to their concrete (or hurt themselves). Too much water PSI, for example, can strip outdoor surfaces of their granules and erode them prematurely.

If you’re still having trouble with aging/stained concrete, then you can always call Johnson Concrete for help. We don’t offer a cleaning service, but we’re happy to inspect and offer solutions.

Our concrete installation services come with numerous 5-star reviews from clients around KC. We also receive lots of business accolades from groups like Angie’s List and BloggerLocal, while maintaining an A+ accreditation with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Contact us today for effective repair and replacement service for concrete steps, driveways, garage floors, and more in Kansas City.