If you’ve recently sealed and stained your concrete, then you must care about the long-term health and appearance of your patio, driveway, walkway, or garage floor. You aren’t satisfied with unsightly cracks, oil stains, and other imperfections. You want a space that appeals to the eye even if it is “only concrete.”
And if that’s you, then you may be wondering about the best way to maintain your sealed and stained concrete. After all, you’ve heard that concrete spaces are low maintenance. But does ‘low maintenance’ mean ‘no maintenance’? What are the habits you can cultivate to ensure that your concrete will continue to look beautiful for as long as possible? That’s the question that we hope to answer in today’s guide for maintaining sealed and stained concrete.
Maintaining Sealed and Stained Concrete: Step One, Remove Loose Debris
The first thing you’ll want to do in your quest for a well-maintained concrete area is to remove loose debris. This is something that you should do on a regular basis and not just when you want to do a deep clean. In fact, it wouldn’t hurt to sweep your concrete off every couple of days. Although decaying leaves and dirt won’t impact your concrete if they remain there for a few days, they can cause issues and degradation if left there for weeks at a time. So, remove this kind of material from your concrete often. And when you’re ready for a deep clean, begin with this step.
Maintaining Sealed and Stained Concrete: Step Two, Use a Dust Mop
By using a dust mop on your concrete, you’ll remove any smaller particles that a broom might miss. Again, this isn’t something that you should only do when you want to comprehensively clean your concrete. Using a dust mop every week or so would probably be a good habit to get into.
Maintaining Sealed and Stained Concrete: Step Three, Mop Your Concrete
When you start to notice stains here and there on your concrete, you’ll know it’s time to go a step further than a broom or dust mop. To get a deeper clean, you’ll need to get out a mop and bucket. Create a mixture of warm water and mild detergent and use it to mop your concrete space. If you notice any stains that won’t easily come up, you may want to use a soft-bristled brush to loosen them before mopping over them. And if there are any stains that remain after this, you should use an ammonia solution (three parts water and one part ammonia) with your mop. This will often do the trick. Although there’s no hard-and-fast rule about how often you should be mopping your floors, you may want to get in the habit of doing it every month or so just to ensure that it always looks its best.
Maintaining Sealed and Stained Concrete: Step Four, Reseal Your Concrete
Concrete sealant doesn’t last forever. So, you should plan on resealing your concrete space every two to three years, depending on its location and the amount of abuse it takes.
By following these simple steps, you’ll go a long way toward keeping your sealed and stained concrete in tip-top shape for its entire lifetime (and yours).
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