Welcome back to Week 3 of the Spring 2021 One Room Challenge!
Follow along as I give my Game Day Porch a Makeover over the next few weeks!
*This post contains affiliate links. Any item you purchase through one of my links enables me to earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you!
This week was all about clean-up and preparation! I definitely classify these as my least favorite part of any decor project. I just like to bulldoze my way through a project. Lay the rug. Place the furniture. Hang the pictures and be done!
Unfortunately, especially for neglected outdoor spaces, giving it all a good cleaning is necessary! I definitely don’t want my friends aware of all the cobwebs and the possibility of falling debris onto their plates. Right? Besides, clean spaces just look better!
We don’t own a pressure washer, even though every year we say we’re going to get one. Now my son has convinced himself that he needs one so he can make money pressure washing for people. So maybe one is in the cards after all!
After a little Google research, I found that most stores carry a product that can be used to clean dirt, grime, mold, etc from concrete. The product we chose is called 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner. Be warned! This stuff is very strong.
My son had on black socks that are now somewhat polka dotted from spraying the cleaner and water mixture onto the concrete. We probably didn’t wear the proper attire for this, either! LIve and learn!
The process for cleaning concrete with this 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner is fairly simple.
1. Mix appropriate ratio of 30 Seconds Cleaner to Water in 1 Gallon Spray Multipurpose Pump Sprayer.
2. Saturate concrete with cleaner mixture. I recommend working in smaller sections, like 5’x5′ or so.
3. Let the 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner mixture sit as directed on bottle instructions. For concrete, the suggested time is 15 minutes. (We weren’t that patient and it shows)
4. Once the 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner mixture has penetrated for suggested length of time, take a stiff broom and scrub the concrete. You will see the dirt releasing from the concrete.
5. Rinse the 30 Second Outdoor Cleaner mixture and grime off of concrete with water hose.
This process can be repeated if necessary. As I said, we didn’t let ours sit long enough initially, but as we figured out it was really working, we were a little more patient.
Overall, it cleaned our porch concrete pretty well. There are a few places that still have some red dirt staining, but even those are much improved.
In addition to cleaning the concrete, we took time to clean the ceiling, windows, ceiling fan, and the lights we strung last summer. They were filthy! Our Game Day Porch has been obviously neglected from a good deep cleaning!
As a bonus to cleaning the porch, I went ahead and rolled out the rug that I purchased a while back specifically for the porch. I’m glad I did because it’s more grey than black which will influence the paint color I choose for the furniture. I apparently forgot what color the rug was when I ordered it!
Even Cocoa is a fan of the new rug. He’s spent a lot of time lounging in the sun on it!
The goal for next week is to start work on the furniture and possibly hang curtains. We’ll see what I’m able to accomplish while I have a little bit of a lull in my work schedule!
Follow My One Room Challenge Journey
To see what other One Room Challenge participants are doing this week, go HERE!
Shop My Back Porch
Thank you so much for such an informative post! We’re looking forward to continuing to follow your transformation! Well wishes from fellow ORC participants!!
Thank you so much for sharing 30 SECONDS Outdoor Cleaner with your audience! We are glad to see the patio is Cocoa approved after a quick cleaning.
Thanks for stopping by! We love how well your product worked and will definitely be using it for future cleaning projects!