I tried a £30 viral hack to transform my grey stained patio – now it’s gleaming, all you need is a broom & a hose
WANT your patio to look brand new but don’t want to fork out for the pleasure?
Well, you can do just that thanks to this woman’s savvy hack which promises to transform your patio in no time at all.
Claire Appleton, who often shares her clever DIY projects on social media took her concrete slabs from old and mouldy to looking brand new, and it only cost her £30.
Posting on TikTok, Claire go to work, first jet washing the green algae off the surface of the slabs, before going in with the viral product.
The No Nonsense Easyfix Patio Joint Mortar can be bought for just £31.99 from Screwfix.
With the average patio costing up to £475 per square metre according to Check A Trade, the bargain buy is perfect if you’re on a budget.
And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a DIY pro to use it either.
You’ll just need a hard bristled broom and some water, as Claire showed in her TikTok.
It’s a good idea to start by giving your patio a good clean – you can do this with a power washer if you already have one, but if not, the paving specialists at Simply Paving previosuly shared their top tips and tricks with Fabulous you can use instead.
Step one: clean your patio
The experts claimed that you don’t need ‘fancy products’ to clean your patio, and in fact, can use washing-up liquid to get them gleaming.
The experts revealed: “Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need any fancy products to clean a patio without a pressure washer.
“In fact, one of the most effective patio cleaning products is good old-fashioned washing-up liquid mixed with warm tap water.
“All you need to do is squirt a little washing up liquid into the base of a bucket and fill with warm water. Using this soapy mixture, start from the corners and splash a little water onto your patio, grab a hard-bristled brush and scrub.
“Repeat with the splashing and scrubbing routine until you’ve covered your whole patio. You will likely need to head inside a few times to top up your cleaning solution if you are cleaning a large patio.
“Clean the dirty water away with a bucket of clean water so that it flows into a drainage point.
“A top tip is to scrub diagonally as this is gentler on the jointing compound and less will come out during cleaning.”
Step two: Wet your patio
Using a hose or a watering can, get your patio nice and wet – this is so the product will be able to work properly once you apply it, so don’t skip this step!
Claire did this using a watering can, making sure the water got in all the cracks and joints of her patio.
Step three: Brush in the product
Scatter the product over the joints of your patio before going in with a broom to brush it in to all the cracks and smaller gaps.
You can add more product as you go too, so don’t worry if it doesn’t look like there’s enough at first.
Claire showed herself doing exactly that, and it looked mega easy to do, making it the perfect Saturday task.
The results definitely speak for themselves too, with Claire’s patio looking almost unrecognisable after the product had been fully applied – and for just over £30 you can’t really go wrong.
Other’s agreed the results were pretty impressive, as one person commented: “Amazing tip Claire!! Looks fantastic!”
“Omg I need to do this so bad,” a second wrote.
A third chimed in: “Wow looks fab.”
Meanwhile, someone else explained that they also used the product on their patio, but struggled to remove the excess from the concrete afterewards.
They wrote: “Great job! We’ve just done ours but can’t get the product off the stone after, any tips?”
Luckily, Claire explained that it’s important to clean the remaining product off your patio once you’re finished laying it.
She replied to the comment: “It happened to our first house, jet wash it! You have 24 hours afterwards to clean it before it fully sets.”
How to repair broken patio slabs
THE paving specialists at Simply Paving told Fabulous how you can repair broken patio slabs, without the faff.
The experts advised: “If you have a loose paving slab, then it’s unlikely it can be lifted straight by hand. Instead, you will probably need a hammer and chisel to prise the paver free of your patio.
“To remove loose paving slabs without damaging your flagstones, carefully chip away at the mortar around the paving slab with the plugging chisel and rubber mallet until the slab comes completely loose.
“Then, slide the spade into the gap left by the mortar and prise the paver free of the patio.
“As you lift it up, place a short piece of timber underneath the spade to act as a lever, making it easier for you while protecting the slab underneath.
“When the paver starts to give, place the cylindrical wood underneath it and roll the slab out of the patio.”