Cleaning Blackspots from Cobble lock

The Mulk

What's the best cleaner to remove black Lichen from cobble lock paving, and any ideas where to buy it.
There's a few on Amazon, but they don't all deliver to Ireland.

https://floorseal.co.uk/product/patio-black-spot-remover-plus/

monkeynuz

The Mulk wrote: »

What's the best cleaner to remove black Lichen from cobble lock paving, and any ideas where to buy it.
There's a few on Amazon, but they don't all deliver to Ireland.

https://floorseal.co.uk/product/patio-black-spot-remover-plus/

That’s hilarious, go to a farmers supply shop/creamery and ask for chlorous (sodium hypochlorite), then you’ll see why I am laughing at the price of the stuff you linked!

The Mulk

monkeynuz wrote: »

That’s hilarious, go to a farmers supply shop/creamery and ask for chlorous (sodium hypochlorite), then you’ll see why I am laughing at the price of the stuff you linked!

Cheers. I had a look at that yesterday but it wasn't sure whether it was for cleaning heavy strains or more for disinfection.
I'll pick up 5 litres of it and try give it a blast over the weekend

monkeynuz

The Mulk wrote: »

Cheers. I had a look at that yesterday but it wasn't sure whether it was for cleaning heavy strains or more for disinfection.
I'll pick up 5 litres of it and try give it a blast over the weekend

It’s a high strength bleach, exactly the same stuff as in the product you linked.

What size area do you have?

The Mulk

monkeynuz wrote: »

It’s a high strength bleach, exactly the same stuff as in the product you linked.

What size area do you have?

20 square metres approx.
I'm looking for a local supplier, Celbridge/Maynooth area Co. Kildare.
Co-op stores don't offer delivery of it.

monkeynuz

The Mulk wrote: »

20 square metres approx.
I'm looking for a local supplier, Celbridge/Maynooth area Co. Kildare.
Co-op stores don't offer delivery of it.

Glanbia country life 8km from maynooth.

The Mulk

monkeynuz wrote: »

Glanbia country life 8km from maynooth.

Thank you, i'll drop down to them on Saturday,

They have a product
https://www.countrylife.ie/shop/product/Biocel-CHLOR-KLEEN-Extra/9107477?refSrc=9001981&nosto=frontpage-nosto-10
I'm sure it's the same.
I'll ask them when i'm down with them.

monkeynuz

The Mulk wrote: »

Thank you, i'll drop down to them on Saturday,

They have a product
https://www.countrylife.ie/shop/product/Biocel-CHLOR-KLEEN-Extra/9107477?refSrc=9001981&nosto=frontpage-nosto-10
I'm sure it's the same.
I'll ask them when i'm down with them.

Or just get this

https://www.countrylife.ie/shop/product/Supercleen-Rocklor/9001983?refSrc=9001984&nosto=productpage-nosto-2-mobile

The Mulk

monkeynuz wrote: »

Or just get this

https://www.countrylife.ie/shop/product/Supercleen-Rocklor/9001983?refSrc=9001984&nosto=productpage-nosto-2-mobile

Perfect, i'll check out Rathcoffey for stock and stick up a few before and after pics if i get a chance.

monkeynuz

The Mulk wrote: »

Perfect, i'll check out Rathcoffey for stock and stick up a few before and after pics if i get a chance.

Good luck, and don’t let it dry on the stones!

oleras

As said, chlorus, diluted around 8 to 1, applied with a watering can and rinse off, hot day will work wonders.

Movie Maestro

The Mulk wrote: »

Perfect, i'll check out Rathcoffey for stock and stick up a few before and after pics if i get a chance.

Just wondering if you got this and what were the results? Glanbia Rathcoffey only have a 25L drum at €38. My garden is 20 square metres approx and that amount seems overkill? I was thinking 5L would be fine.

The Mulk

Movie Maestro wrote: »

Just wondering if you got this and what were the results? Glanbia Rathcoffey only have a 25L drum at €38. My garden is 20 square metres approx and that amount seems overkill? I was thinking 5L would be fine.

5L should be plenty. I went for the 25L drum. I used about 5 and might use another 5 in the back garden. I was going to spend €40 on a 5L drum of a similar product.!
Maybe try some where that delivers for the 5L drum
It came up really well, lifted most of the staining.
I'll try stick up some pics this evening

Movie Maestro

The Mulk wrote: »

5L should be plenty. I went for the 25L drum. I used about 5 and might use another 5 in the back garden. I was going to spend €40 on a 5L drum of a similar product.!
Maybe try some where that delivers for the 5L drum
It came up really well, lifted most of the staining.
I'll try stick up some pics this evening

Great stuff thanks.

u140acro3xs7dm

I have pets wandering around the garden, is this safe to use?

monkeynuz

August White Storyteller wrote: »

I have pets wandering around the garden, is this safe to use?

Keep the pets in for a couple of hours while you clean the paving and then dilute the rinsing water.

Dr_Colossus

Anyone know of a co-op/farmer supply store handy near the Dublin 15 area where this can be sourced? There are a few builder providers and general stores but they generally only have expensive patio cleaners at upwards of €25 per 5 litres which are likely not even as effective.

consulatory

just a heads up for anyone who stumbles on this thread in the munster area (if countrylife aren't near) co-op superstores has what seems to be a similar product called Gold Assure Chlor Clean 5L. After much googling, I've come to conclusion Gold Assure is in-house brand (dairygold own the co-op i think) made by Biocel for them!

I had just finished powerwashing entire patio and was hoping this would lift lichen. Boy was i wrong.

Anyway, this product is useless, I sprayed at listed dilution of 20 to 1, let sit for 30 mins, rinsed - nothing, sprayed again at dilution of 7 to 1, sit for 30, rinsed nothing, i then just ignored sprayer and slupped it every where followed by a brushing(dilution 7 to 1). sit for 30 and rinsed.

This has to be the most useless product in existence for cleaning patio. I didn't heavily powerhose a test area to see whether on it's own, this would do as good as powerhosing. it did not.

ten litres, 20 quid and another 20 for the sprayer, i can safely say this product is useless.


product is listed at www dot coopsuperstores dot ie/Gold-Assure-Chlor-Clean-5l-0690953 but of course feck all ingredients. so i've uploaded them here:

imgur dot com/a/NqmrAyS

If anyone can recommend supplier/alt product in limerick/clare area, that would be great.

monkeynuz

consulatory wrote: »

just a heads up for anyone who stumbles on this thread in the munster area (if countrylife aren't near) co-op superstores has what seems to be a similar product called Gold Assure Chlor Clean 5L. After much googling, I've come to conclusion Gold Assure is in-house brand (dairygold own the co-op i think) made by Biocel for them!

I had just finished powerwashing entire patio and was hoping this would lift lichen. Boy was i wrong.

Anyway, this product is useless, I sprayed at listed dilution of 20 to 1, let sit for 30 mins, rinsed - nothing, sprayed again at dilution of 7 to 1, sit for 30, rinsed nothing, i then just ignored sprayer and slupped it every where followed by a brushing(dilution 7 to 1). sit for 30 and rinsed.

This has to be the most useless product in existence for cleaning patio. I didn't heavily powerhose a test area to see whether on it's own, this would do as good as powerhosing. it did not.

ten litres, 20 quid and another 20 for the sprayer, i can safely say this product is useless.


product is listed at www dot coopsuperstores dot ie/Gold-Assure-Chlor-Clean-5l-0690953 but of course feck all ingredients. so i've uploaded them here:

imgur dot com/a/NqmrAyS

If anyone can recommend supplier/alt product in limerick/clare area, that would be great.

Use at 2:1 or 1:1, its currently working correctly as a sanitiser, you want it for something it isn't sold for.

consulatory

monkeynuz wrote: »

Use at 2:1 or 1:1, its currently working correctly as a sanitiser, you want it for something it isn't sold for.

Guess the packaging on the product where it says "Highly effective cleaner for paths" is wrong so.
Also tried 1:1, doesn't help.

I did some more searching and turns out you need 15% Sodium Hypo at 1:1 to shift lychen, not the 5% at 8/7:1 which is just nonsense it turns out.

monkeynuz

consulatory wrote: »

Guess the packaging on the product where it says "Highly effective cleaner for paths" is wrong so.
Also tried 1:1, doesn't help.

I did some more searching and turns out you need 15% Sodium Hypo at 1:1 to shift lychen, not the 5% at 8/7:1 which is just nonsense it turns out.

Longer dwell time needed.

deadduck

monkeynuz wrote: »

Longer dwell time needed.

Bumping this old thread, hope no-one minds

Based on this thread, I picked up some ChlorKleen from Countrylife, they don’t seem to stock Rocklor anymore.

The guy there seemed to know his stuff, and recommended that I spray it on (at about 10:1), and just leave it sit for a few days to kill all the lychen, and then power wash it off.

From what I’ve read above, my plan was to power wash first to clean off as much muck as possible, thinking this will let the Chlor-Kleen (used at 2:1) work well in to the cobble lock, and hose it off after about an hour. Was going to do similar with the sandstone patio in the back.

Any thoughts of which plan would be better?

monkeynuz

deadduck wrote: »

Bumping this old thread, hope no-one minds

Based on this thread, I picked up some ChlorKleen from Countrylife, they don’t seem to stock Rocklor anymore.

The guy there seemed to know his stuff, and recommended that I spray it on (at about 10:1), and just leave it sit for a few days to kill all the lychen, and then power wash it off.

From what I’ve read above, my plan was to power wash first to clean off as much muck as possible, thinking this will let the Chlor-Kleen (used at 2:1) work well in to the cobble lock, and hose it off after about an hour. Was going to do similar with the sandstone patio in the back.

Any thoughts of which plan would be better?

Personally I wouldn’t follow his advice, firstly you don’t want to let the chlor dry, secondly 10:1 is nowhere near strong enough for a deep clean.

Choose a dry or mildly damp day then give it a quick blast with the pressure washer then spray or slosh the 2:1 on, move it around with a broom to cover the area but don’t brush it yet, leave it 30 minutes then scrub with a stiff broom then leave it another 30 minutes then pressure wash off paying attention to the black spots and lichen spots, you may have to hold the lance closer to those.

If needed you may want to treat it a second time.

In future don’t let it get so bad and do an occasional maintenance pressure wash or perhaps a light treatment once a year.

Ours was very stained/discoloured/dirty when I first did it properly and it needed 2 goes at 1:1 but looked fantastic after, I now pop out and give it a quick once over probably every 3-4 months.

deadduck

monkeynuz wrote: »

Personally I wouldn’t follow his advice, firstly you don’t want to let the chlor dry, secondly 10:1 is nowhere near strong enough for a deep clean.

Choose a dry or mildly damp day then give it a quick blast with the pressure washer then spray or slosh the 2:1 on, move it around with a broom to cover the area but don’t brush it yet, leave it 30 minutes then scrub with a stiff broom then leave it another 30 minutes then pressure wash off paying attention to the black spots and lichen spots, you may have to hold the lance closer to those.

If needed you may want to treat it a second time.

In future don’t let it get so bad and do an occasional maintenance pressure wash or perhaps a light treatment once a year.

Ours was very stained/discoloured/dirty when I first did it properly and it needed 2 goes at 1:1 but looked fantastic after, I now pop out and give it a quick once over probably every 3-4 months.

Thanks very much for the quick reply. Sounds like I’m in much the same boat as you were yourself originally. I have neglected the driveway badly, and the patio to an extent too. But plan is to get it looking good with the Chlor-Kleen, and then give it light cleaning a couple of times a year to keep it well.

I’ll stick some before and after photos up once it’s done, any interested readers can see how it went.

Also, one more question, hopefully you might have an idea. The patio area is borders by sleepers, which are also gone green from algae and slime. Do you know, is the Chlor-Kleen ok to use on sleepers?

Fine Cheers

Piggy backing this very informative thread. Assume I can take a similar approach to a concrete tiled roof with a lot of moss. How about a tarmac driveway with some moss in places ?

monkeynuz

deadduck wrote: »

Thanks very much for the quick reply. Sounds like I’m in much the same boat as you were yourself originally. I have neglected the driveway badly, and the patio to an extent too. But plan is to get it looking good with the Chlor-Kleen, and then give it light cleaning a couple of times a year to keep it well.

I’ll stick some before and after photos up once it’s done, any interested readers can see how it went.

Also, one more question, hopefully you might have an idea. The patio area is borders by sleepers, which are also gone green from algae and slime. Do you know, is the Chlor-Kleen ok to use on sleepers?

Yes the chlor will be fine on the sleepers although a good blast with the pressure washer should be sufficient.

monkeynuz

deadduck wrote: »

Thanks very much for the quick reply. Sounds like I’m in much the same boat as you were yourself originally. I have neglected the driveway badly, and the patio to an extent too. But plan is to get it looking good with the Chlor-Kleen, and then give it light cleaning a couple of times a year to keep it well.

I’ll stick some before and after photos up once it’s done, any interested readers can see how it went.

Also, one more question, hopefully you might have an idea. The patio area is borders by sleepers, which are also gone green from algae and slime. Do you know, is the Chlor-Kleen ok to use on sleepers?

One point to note is keep it off plants and grass as much as possible as it will bleach them. If you overspray accidentally on plants rinse it off immediately.

deadduck

So i went at it today, and it worked pretty well. i gave the driveway a good long blast with the power washer, loads of crap came up, so i had to stop and brush it off a few times as i went.

once that was done, i used a 2:1 solution of chlor-kleen. i put it on with the sprayer, but i think next time i'd chuck it on with the watering can (and maybe use the sprayer at the edges). left it a while (about 30 mins), and got the scrubber out to work it in.

about an hour after that, i started to hose it off, but here i noticed 2 things:

1 - it seemed a huge amount had gone into the cobble lock, and it just seemed to keep 'foaming' up

2 - the worse black spot areas, while definitely better, were still not great

taking the 2 things above, i said feck it, and packed in the hosing. it's scheduled to rain a bit over the next few hours (and days), so i said i'd leave it sit and see how much more of the black spots it can eat away...

although i did take some photos, they don't really show the full effect, as the sad truth is, after 14 years, the driveway has lost almost all it's colour. so, been doing a bit of research this evening, and it seems this is what i need now that the driveway is at least clean:

https://www.smartseal.ie/sealers/block-paving-sealer/block-magic-recolouring-paving-sealer-red.htm

monkeynuz

deadduck wrote: »

So i went at it today, and it worked pretty well. i gave the driveway a good long blast with the power washer, loads of crap came up, so i had to stop and brush it off a few times as i went.

once that was done, i used a 2:1 solution of chlor-kleen. i put it on with the sprayer, but i think next time i'd chuck it on with the watering can (and maybe use the sprayer at the edges). left it a while (about 30 mins), and got the scrubber out to work it in.

about an hour after that, i started to hose it off, but here i noticed 2 things:

1 - it seemed a huge amount had gone into the cobble lock, and it just seemed to keep 'foaming' up

2 - the worse black spot areas, while definitely better, were still not great

taking the 2 things above, i said feck it, and packed in the hosing. it's scheduled to rain a bit over the next few hours (and days), so i said i'd leave it sit and see how much more of the black spots it can eat away...

although i did take some photos, they don't really show the full effect, as the sad truth is, after 14 years, the driveway has lost almost all it's colour. so, been doing a bit of research this evening, and it seems this is what i need now that the driveway is at least clean:

https://www.smartseal.ie/sealers/block-paving-sealer/block-magic-recolouring-paving-sealer-red.htm

What colour is your block paving?

Spanish Eyes

Would anyone know if this product will work on white spots (no lichen or moss). It looks like bird poop, but having pressure washed it a few weeks ago, the white spots remain, I think it's mould or something.

Thanks.

deadduck

monkeynuz wrote: »

What colour is your block paving?

Once upon a time, it was a mix of red and charcoal blocks, but now it’s mostly just grey with a hint of red. In the rain, it has a bit more colour, but they look very tired.

deadduck

deadduck wrote: »

Once upon a time, it was a mix of red and charcoal blocks, but now it’s mostly just grey with a hint of red. In the rain, it has a bit more colour, but they look very tired.

There’s a quick photo of them after the light shower we just had

Dr_Colossus

deadduck wrote: »

Once upon a time, it was a mix of red and charcoal blocks, but now it’s mostly just grey with a hint of red. In the rain, it has a bit more colour, but they look very tired.

I have very similar and looked into similar cobble lock sealer before, while it's supposed to be good it's mad money as linked and the cobble lock is pretty porous so a 25litre drum wouldn't go very far. I just resort to power washing mine once a year now and it generally holds up well apart from the odd weed that sprouts from the joints.

deadduck

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

I have very similar and looked into similar cobble lock sealer before, while it's supposed to be good it's mad money as linked and the cobble lock is pretty porous so a 25litre drum wouldn't go very far. I just resort to power washing mine once a year now and it generally holds up well apart from the odd weed that sprouts from the joints.

Yeah, the stuff I linked to says it’ll do 3m2 per litre, and I’ve about 90m2 to cover, so yeah, a bit pricey. Might get the block magic to get the colour back in, but then use something like thomsons to do the sealing on top of it.