Is Your Patio Ready for Fall?
The patio you ignored all summer is about to become the room you actually use. A short list of what to deal with before the weather turns.
Nobody in Alabama uses their patio in July. It is a hundred degrees and the humidity makes the concrete feel like a wet towel. So the patio sits there collecting things for three months, and then the first cool evening in September arrives and you go out there and it looks like a swamp.
This is a short list of what to deal with before that happens, and the timing on it is now rather than the week you want to use it.
Summer buildup
Three months of heat and humidity with nobody walking on the slab means whatever was going to grow, grew. Shaded corners go first. Anything under a table or a grill stayed damp and dark and did not get disturbed.
If half your patio is a different color than the other half, that is what happened.
Grill grease
The area around a grill accumulates cooking grease all summer, and grease is not something pressure alone lifts off porous concrete. It needs a degreaser first.
It is also the reason a patio can look clean and still feel slightly tacky underfoot in one spot.
Pollen residue
Spring pollen washed into the surface and stayed. It is the yellowish tint in the low areas, and it comes up easily but it does not come up on its own.
The furniture
Cushions that sat outside through a humid summer are their own project. Frames get a film that a rinse handles.
This is also the time to notice which chair has been sitting in the same spot long enough to leave a rust ring, because those are much easier to treat now than after another six months.
The shaded corner nobody looks at
Every patio has one. Behind the grill, under the steps, the strip between the slab and the house. It is always the worst and it is always the part that makes the whole space look neglected once the rest is clean.
Anything wood
Steps, railings, a deck section, a pergola. Wood that has gone green over the summer is slick, and it is a real hazard on stairs once the mornings get damp.
This one is worth handling before the weather turns rather than after.
Why now rather than October
Two reasons.
Practically: concrete and wood need to dry, and drying is faster in warm weather. A patio cleaned in August is fully dry the same day. A patio cleaned in November on a damp week may take a couple of days.
Realistically: the first genuinely nice weekend is when everybody has the same idea. Getting it done ahead means you are not waiting for a slot when you actually want the space.
What it usually costs
A covered porch or patio on its own runs from around $140. Done alongside a driveway it is less, because most of the cost of a small job is bringing the equipment out at all.
If you are thinking about the driveway anyway, doing both in one visit is the better value by a wide margin.
The five minute version
Walk out there. Look at the shaded corner, look under the grill, and step on the wood.
If any of those three make you wince, get it handled while the weather is still doing the drying for you.
Have a surface you are not sure about?
Send a photo and tell us what you are dealing with. You will get a straight answer, including if the answer is that cleaning will not fix it.
