sandstone garden maintenance and cleaning questions

[honeysuckle]

hi we had a big area of our garden laid with sandstone slabs last summer. They looked great at first but after winter were very grubby so we power washed them and they looked great again. However now its about six months on they look grubby again? Have read mixed reviews on sealing them but dont want to have to power wash them every few months either which cant be good for them (have seen little bits of stone chip away with the power wash!) Any one have experiences to share with cleaning and maintaining these slabs thanks.

 

[margaret1]

We have limestone slabs and purchased a Thompsons Limestone seal in woodies recently. I am pretty sure I also saw one for Sandstone.The seal comes in matt or wet look and you put it on with a roller.

 

[number7]

All outdoor stone will require ongoing maintenance normally an annual powerwash with the right pressure (to avoid damage) and an application of moss and weed inhibitor should keep it clear for the year depending on its location and the amount of sun it gets.

 

[hippy1975]

Honeysuckle, don't keep powerwashing it anyway, or you'll have no patio left, sandstone is extremely porous. The seals are good, make sure to follow the instructions, or if you don't want to go with those, you can use washing soda crystals (rem the old fashioned ones you can still get them) with some warm water and a gentle scrub with a deck scrub, the soda is powerful enough to clean without powerwashing, but it's not too harsh like bleach etc.