Neutral Axis

My patio went unused for a couple of years and built up quite a bit of dirt and leaves.  During a recent cleanup, my pressure washer did very well at removing the dirt, but I found that the leaves, mostly oak, had left dark brown stains.  Most weren’t bigger than about the size of a dime, but there were LOTS of them.  My 1800 psi pressure washer couldn’t remove them.  Don’t waste time buying something like Crud Cutter at Lowes or Home Depot.  It doesn’t work on these stains.  Nor did a dish soap solution.  What worked was powdered OxiClean laundry detergent and a “toothbrush”.  It was a lot of work, but I found a procedure that worked quite well.

1. Wet the concrete.
2. Sprinkler a little OxiClean on each spot, individually.  Don’t try to cover the whole area.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
3. With a small brush, brush the OxiClean around the spot and then leave it alone again for another 5-10 minutes with the paste sitting on the spot.
4. Wash the OxiClean off with a pressure washer or good strong stream from a garden hose.

This procedure almost completely eliminated most of my stains.