easy peasy way to get rid of moss on Tarmac?

Andy From Sligo

I am most probably chancing my arm and being totally un-realistic but i would really like to get rid of this unsightly moss on our tarmac drive and the road outside the wall of our house in the most easiest and cheapest way possible once and for all. Any ideas? - something that :

*Does not that involve physical hard graft work like scrubbing, sweeping vigorously, getting out of breath, breaking back etc lol

*if has to be chemicals , something that does'nt cost an arm or a leg and dont have to sell a kidney to afford to buy it

*if involves a chemical, something that can be used around where dogs are present

Things I have tried:

*Mixing up household bleach with water, putting it in garden sprayer
*Mixing up Biological clothes washing liquid and spraying
*Mixing up Fairy Washing up liquid

None of this worked, didnt even looked liked it touched it!

As i say I am most probably being un-realistic living in cloud cuckoo land but i would love to just use the ol garden sprayer , fill it up with something , spray the moss and within a day or 2 all the moss has died and just 'dissolved/disappeared' without any brushing/scrubbing off dead moss.
Thanks for Ideas i havent tried yet.

invicta

Get cheap washing powder. DO NOT wet it or dilute it in any way!!!
Just sprinkle the stuff on top of the moss and after two weeks brush it away!
Mind you, I would wait for a drier spell of weather, or better still wait until late March or April to treat it, as weather is milder and the moss would be denser!

James Bond Junior

Hydrochloric acid mixed with water. It fizzes on limestone so will clean too. My dad and I used it recently and seems to have worked

Andy From Sligo

invicta wrote: »

Get cheap washing powder. DO NOT wet it or dilute it in any way!!!
Just sprinkle the stuff on top of the moss and after two weeks brush it away!
Mind you, I would wait for a drier spell of weather, or better still wait until late March or April to treat it, as weather is milder and the moss would be denser!

Thanks, I dont want to wait until march or april, would really want to get rid of it now. and in 1or 2 days not wait 2 weeks and not brush it all away I just want something to dissolve it - not asking for a lot am I lol?

Andy From Sligo

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Hydrochloric acid mixed with water. It fizzes on limestone so will clean too. My dad and I used it recently and seems to have worked

can that be got off in a larg'sh quantity like 5 or 10 ltr containers? - bet its expensive? - where would I even get it from, what about being safe to put it down if its highly corrosive?

Jakey Rolling

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

can that be got off in a larg'sh quantity like 5 or 10 ltr containers? - bet its expensive? - where would I even get it from, what about being safe to put it down if its highly corrosive?

Got 5l in the local farmers co-op, it was a while ago but remember it being reasonably cheap (like less than €20). Nasty stuff to use though, you need to explicitly follow the instructions, wear eye and skin protection and guard against splashes. I was using it for removing efflorescence from stonework, it will etch concrete etc.

FWIW, I also got 10l of Chloras from the co-op really cheap. Farmers use it for disinfecting milking eqpt. I use it diluted on concrete footpaths, does a great job at removing slime - leave on for 30 mins, rinse and brush off.

OU812

You're not going to get anything that'll just dissolve it, but if you do it properly once & then do a simple maintenance once a year or so, it shouldn't come back.

Use soda crystals (detergents aisle in supermarket), wet, leave & then scrape & then once a year just repeat the process but brush them off instead of scraping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET4UoLB4hKU

gsi300024v

Moss Go Pro. Very expensive, you could cut back the hedge too if it is not getting any light there, or power wash it off yearly.

Andy From Sligo

gsi300024v wrote: »

Moss Go Pro. Very expensive, you could cut back the hedge too if it is not getting any light there, or power wash it off yearly.

I dont know whether its the case my power washer (its a k'archer) was weak or what but I tried powerwashing it once and it didnt even touch it! - its almost like the moss is weaved deep right into the tarmac rather than just on the surface - sure if it was just on the surface a good brushing would get it easily enough.

Andy From Sligo

one thing I havent tried is a gas 'weed burner' - I wonder if that would kill it off? - dont want to melt the tarmac in the process though lol ...

Andy From Sligo

OU812 wrote: »

You're not going to get anything that'll just dissolve it, but if you do it properly once & then do a simple maintenance once a year or so, it shouldn't come back.

Use soda crystals (detergents aisle in supermarket), wet, leave & then scrape & then once a year just repeat the process but brush them off instead of scraping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET4UoLB4hKU

Thanks, that seems to be surface moss on a concrete path in that picture - we have it growing on the tarmac drive and on closer inspection its not just surface moss it looks like the moss has weaved its way right into the tarmac!

Andy From Sligo

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

Got 5l in the local farmers co-op, it was a while ago but remember it being reasonably cheap (like less than €20). Nasty stuff to use though, you need to explicitly follow the instructions, wear eye and skin protection and guard against splashes. I was using it for removing efflorescence from stonework, it will etch concrete etc.

FWIW, I also got 10l of Chloras from the co-op really cheap. Farmers use it for disinfecting milking eqpt. I use it diluted on concrete footpaths, does a great job at removing slime - leave on for 30 mins, rinse and brush off.

hmm thanks, I might be able to work that on the drive, but outside the wall where it looks bad as well, thats public/council and if I done that with corrosive stuff that would be dodgy, especially people walking their dogs, it might melt their footware or the dogs might ingest it! :eek:

Andy From Sligo

I bet if there was some way I could adapt an old electric lawnmower (but I aint that clever) and put some steel wire brushes where the blade is it would remove it fast if I did that. maybe need to get in touch with these garden tool people like Qualcast or Flymo and tell em to invent one quick - unless its already been invented!

Speedsie

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I bet if there was some way I could adapt an old electric lawnmower (but I aint that clever) and put some steel wire brushes where the blade is it would remove it fast if I did that. maybe need to get in touch with these garden tool people like Qualcast or Flymo and tell em to invent one quick - unless its already been invented!

Yup, it's been invented. Called a road sweeper. You can hire a walk behind one from many plant hire places. Very stiff bristles, not sure it would lift such deeply entwined moss though.

Oh, and it has a petrol engine rather than electric.

Andy From Sligo

Speedsie wrote: »

Yup, it's been invented. Called a road sweeper. You can hire a walk behind one from many plant hire places. Very stiff bristles, not sure it would lift such deeply entwined moss though.

Oh, and it has a petrol engine rather than electric.

Ah see every time I think of something its been invented! - thats why im not rich - very sensible it being petrol, you wouldnt want to be using electric tools out in this damp wet weather :eek:

James Bond Junior

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

can that be got off in a larg'sh quantity like 5 or 10 ltr containers? - bet its expensive? - where would I even get it from, what about being safe to put it down if its highly corrosive?

We got a 25l drum. Don't know how much it was but it wasn't very expensive. Would you rent a petrol powered power house? I had one for a day and it brought up paving slabs like new. It would lift Tarmac mind you..

MAYOMICK

Every year I buy a big Box of washing powder and shake it on the moss on drive.It does a good job with very little effort and also you have a grand smell around the place for a while.

nicol

I have used washing powder, the cheapest of the cheap Tesco own brand. Spread it by hand generously on the tarmac and leave it for a few hours, then scrub it with a brush. You're not trying to remove the moss by scrubbing, just working the powder into the tarmac. The moss will die away inside a couple of weeks.

I wouldn't use any sort of industrial scrubber on tarmac, you'll end up causing long term damage if you use them I'd imagine.

MAYOMICK wrote: »

Every year I buy a big Box of washing powder and shake it on the moss on drive.It does a good job with very little effort and also you have a grand smell around the place for a while.

gsi300024v

Anyone try salt?

Hocus Focus

gsi300024v wrote: »

Anyone try salt?

I had some good results with salt water, but can't remember how concentrated it was, also threw out bleach solution after disinfecting homebrew equipment, onto mossy area and it killed off the moss, (for a while!).

gsi300024v

It'll probably always come back if it's shaded wet damp area.

Andy From Sligo

Might try washing powder one day see if that works. Do you know why these sites say to us Non-Bio washing powder and not biological?

Staplor

Go to a big supermarket, buy the biggest, cheapest box you can find. Use that, it has to be the cheap stuff.

Discodog

Do bear in mind that it will also kill plants, grass & wildlife. I have to replace a load of plants where an idiot used bleach & then powerwashed.

lazybones32

I've used jeyes fluid over the last few weeks and it's worked. The moss is still there but it's dead. I must do the calculations some evening to see whether jeyes fluid or specific moss killers are better value for money.

Eule

gsi300024v wrote: »

Anyone try salt?

Yep. Works like a charm everywhere. Sprinkle, then broom into the cracks (if your drive is paved) and just wait for the rain to do it's thing.

Stealthfins

Jeyes Fluid seems to be the best or armilatox can be used too.

Always read the label and proper measurement of dilution is best.

gsi300024v

Moss Go Pro is supposed to be good but it is expensive.

molby

Milling salt from youe nearest co-op. About 5euro for a fairly big bag. Will kill the moss after a few days. Tried it last year and it worked well.

tringle

I use the cheap washing powder too and it works. I used it on a very slippy path on Sunday in the rain. Sprinkled, scrubbed it in a bit and juts left it,. The path is now clear. This was more surface moss than deep though. But we use it at work on a tarmac yard, juts keave it for a week or two and then brush away.

Andy From Sligo

tringle wrote: »

I use the cheap washing powder too and it works. I used it on a very slippy path on Sunday in the rain. Sprinkled, scrubbed it in a bit and juts left it,. The path is now clear. This was more surface moss than deep though. But we use it at work on a tarmac yard, juts keave it for a week or two and then brush away.

thanks, and just to clarify, was it cheap non-bio powder?

tringle

No, just regular powder.

yfaykya

Does anyone know of a power tool that can actually clear the moss (dead or alive)? I have a wire brush that removes it handy enough but I have a very large driveway and a bad back. Something like a push sweeper type thing?

Staplor

Cheapest washing powder + leave it for a few days and then power washer

yfaykya

Power washing will damage the tarmac though. It lifts the odd chip in mine which I think in long run would give moss more places to settle.

Staplor

Then don't powerwash it, or use a lower setting. If a low setting is wrecking your tarmac I'd question your tarmac.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

yfaykya wrote: »

Power washing will damage the tarmac though. It lifts the odd chip in mine which I think in long run would give moss more places to settle.

I've powerwashed a tarmac drive for years with no adverse affects. Use the right setting and it's fine.

Andy From Sligo

yfaykya wrote: »

Does anyone know of a power tool that can actually clear the moss (dead or alive)? I have a wire brush that removes it handy enough but I have a very large driveway and a bad back. Something like a push sweeper type thing?

I am exactly in same boat tried loads of things like salt , washing powder and the moss is still there - same as you I need some kid of machine with wire brushes you can push like a lawnmower that loosens it and sucks it up into a collection bag ... but on the tarmac drive

lazybones32

There is a machine with a rotating/revolving head, used for cleaning concrete paths that could be used on tarmac (farmers use it mostly I think). I've seen them for hire and if you could turn down the power and not 'dig' it into the tarmac, I imagine it'd lift any surface growth. Tarmac isn't just larger chips; there are also smaller specks that will get dislodged by powerwashing.

Pkiernan

Francis Early Slipknot wrote: »

I've powerwashed a tarmac drive for years with no adverse affects. Use the right setting and it's fine.

That just means that you gave a very wimpy power washer. Time to man up... :-)

yfaykya

I was thinking something like this :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpQDFohzVb0

lazybones32

yfaykya wrote: »

I was thinking something like this :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpQDFohzVb0

Yeah, that's similar to the yokes I've seen.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Pkiernan wrote: »

That just means that you gave a very wimpy power washer. Time to man up... :-)

Hilarious.

I said it does the job without damage to the tarmac... it used at the right settings.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

yfaykya wrote: »

I was thinking something like this :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpQDFohzVb0

If a powerwash damages your tarmac then that will too.

NIMAN

What about this contraception

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-garden-power-tools/rotating-sweeper-brush-snow-blower-power-road-pressure-washer-lawn-leaf-vacuum-vac-suction-astro/1275208753

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

NIMAN wrote: »

What about this contraception

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-garden-power-tools/rotating-sweeper-brush-snow-blower-power-road-pressure-washer-lawn-leaf-vacuum-vac-suction-astro/1275208753

If they came up with a contraception method for moss they'd make a fortune.