How to clean flags

[Roger465]

Last year I spent a day pressure washing my paths, made of concrete flags, which were dark and slippery. It did a great job, but 5 minutes later (OK, a few weeks) they were as if I hadn't bothered.

I've read through every thread I can find, and the popular answer seems to be bleach, which is fine... except I'm wondering (a) will that last much longer; (b) will the runoff kill my lawn?

Any clever ideas folks?

Thanks

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I'd be intrigued if you find anything, rain contains dust so even if you never walked on it it will be covered in whatever is in the rain once it evaporates.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Clean, then cover them up with something. Lift the cover when you need to impress someone with that *bling*.

 

[conny]

Clean, then cover them up with something. Lift the cover when you need to impress someone with that *bling*.

No air circulation will allow fungi, moss etc to still grow and stain them. I usually give mine a scrub with a bucket of disinfectant laced water and a good stiff brush every couple of weeks. Brush away from lawn edges/flower beds and try to channel any water away across an area to where there is concrete or other walkways.

 

[DiyNutJob]

No air circulation will allow fungi, moss etc to still grow and stain them. I usually give mine a scrub with a bucket of disinfectant laced water and a good stiff brush every couple of weeks. Brush away from lawn edges/flower beds and try to channel any water away across an area to where there is concrete or other walkways.

No air, no sun, and they still grow? You have let windings gone to your head.

 

[conny]

No air, no sun, and they still grow? You have let windings gone to your head.

Try it for yourself and see. Fungi and moss don't really like, or need, sunlight. One of the reasons why you can tell which is the north side of a tree. Moisture comes up from the ground under the covering.

 

[JohnD]

You can use certain cleaners that kill moss and mildew. I use "wet and forget" but there are others.

Bleach will have to be re-applied quite frequently, and yes, the run-off will kill grass and other plants.

It's my opinion that the key is laying it to keep dry, somewhat raised with a good fall, especially if it will be shaded. Look at concrete roads, with a pronounced camber, gutters and drains.