How to Soft Wash a Patio Without Damaging It: The Ultimate Guide

By Mark Cave May 23, 2025

🧼 How to Soft Wash a Patio Without Damaging It: The Ultimate Guide

If your patio is starting to look green, slippery, or just plain tired, a deep clean might be in order. But before you reach for a pressure washer, let’s talk about a safer, more effective alternative: Soft Washing. In this post, we’ll explore how to soft wash a patio without causing damage keeping your surfaces pristine and protected. 🏡

🎯 Why Soft Washing and Not Pressure Washing?

While pressure washing might look satisfying in viral videos, it can actually erode porous patio materials such as sandstone or limestone, damaging your surface and reducing its lifespan. Soft washing, on the other hand, uses carefully mixed cleaning solutions and low-pressure application to safely break down algae, moss, and dirt, doing the job effectively without abrasion.

If you’re still wondering which method to use, our podcast Softwashing Versus Pressure Washing explains the risks and rewards of both approaches.

💡 Common Patio Soft Washing Question

“Can I soft wash my patio without killing the grass around it?”

Great question and you're not alone in asking it. A major fear among many DIYers is that the chemicals used in soft washing may harm plants and lawns. While it’s true that soft wash mixes may contain substances like sodium hypochlorite, you can control and mitigate exposure using techniques we've perfected here at SoftWash UK.

Here’s how:

Pre-wet surrounding vegetation with water 🌿
Use tarps to cover delicate plants whenever possible
Apply a neutralising rinse when finished
Try plant-friendly solutions like Soft Wash Biocide 50% DDAC

Want to know more? Our podcast episode Can Soft Washing Kill Plants? offers detailed strategies for vegetation protection.

🧪 Choosing the Right Soft Wash Chemicals

For patios, especially stone, brick, and concrete, we recommend starting with the following essentials:

Grenade Driveway Oil Stain Remover for oil stains
Clever Wash Surfactant to help your solution stick to and penetrate the surface
Fresh Wash Masking Scent to reduce strong chemical odours

These products are available in our Soft Wash Chemicals Collection and yes, they’re professional grade and homeowner safe when used with care.

🔧 The Must-Have Equipment

Soft washing isn’t just about the solution delivery matters, too. Using the Clever Injectoror a Dosatron Biocide Injector helps you accurately mix solutions on-the-fly, preventing over saturation or bleach burns.

Want to reach harder spots without climbing? Try the Water Fed Pole Softwash Nozzle perfect for vertical patio walls, steps, or awkward edges.

Explore more pro-level options in our Soft Washing Equipment Collection.

🧪 Simple Soft Wash Recipe for Patios

Here’s a basic but effective soft wash mix you can start with (always wear PPE!):

6% Sodium Hypochlorite (SH)
20ml Clever Wash Surfactant per litre of SH
Optional: 5ml of Fresh Wash to reduce smell

Learn more mixing secrets in our Soft Wash Mixing Podcast Episode.

🛠 Step-by-Step: How to Soft Wash Your Patio

Clear the patio of furniture, pots, and debris
Wet surrounding grass and plants thoroughly
Apply your mix using a soft wash sprayer or Dosatron injector
Let the solution dwell for 10–15 minutes (don't let it dry out)
Lightly agitate with a broom or soft brush 🧹
Rinse lightly with water or allow rainfall to wash it away over time

Depending on the growth level and surface, multiple applications may be necessary. To prevent regrowth, consider using Moss Guard Pro a green growth inhibitor with lasting power. 🌱

🎓 Want to Learn Even More?

If you'd like to learn the science and safety behind professional soft washing, get started with our comprehensive and certified Soft Wash Training Course or try the Self-Study Option from home.

We even break down what sodium hypochlorite is and how to use it effectively.

✨ Final Patio Care Tips

Inspect your patio every season and treat small patches early
Reapply biocide protectants to discourage future organic growth
Be mindful of shaded or north-facing areas where algae thrive

Remember: soft washing is safe, effective, and long-lasting when done right. 🚿

📢 Ready to Get Started?

Your dream patio is just one wash away! Explore trusted chemicals, clever equipment, and training today on the SoftWash UK website.

👉 Visit SoftWash UK and give your patio the care it deserves.

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Soft Wash Calculator App

Now you can say I've got an app for that!

Available NOW Click Here To Download

Softwashing calculator is an indispensable tool for juggling complicated chemical mixes. It helps reduce wastage and keeps operating costs down by giving accurate proportions

If you are having difficulty getting your head around the maths, trying to work out what percentage of softwash you need, how much chemical, surfactant and water to add, then this is the App for you.

The Soft Wash Calculator App allows you to work out your soft wash recipe by telling you exactly how much chemical, how much water and how much surfactant to add to get the desired soft wash recipe.
It doesn't stop there!.
- It can also remix your leftover softwash to a new stronger or weaker recipe.
- all controls in one place for see at a glance operation
- ease of input via pre-loaded dials. no more calculator style typing
- instantly responds to changes of complex combinations
- works in both Litres and US Gallons
- tested for Protan and Deutan colourblind users
- links to SoftwashingUK website

Take this scenario
You started with a 1% soft wash recipe of 50 gal (or litres) for a deck clean and you’re left with 13 gallons.

You get a call from a prospective customer to clean their roof. Past experience tells you a 4% soft wash recipe is needed, but what about your leftover mix at 1%?.

Do you waste time and effort driving back to base to transfer into a standby tank?
You could consider the 13 gal as just water, top up the tank and start again.
But that’s throwing away the value of the mix and raising your overhead.

Soft Wash Calculator App to the rescue.

You get to the new job and it requires 100 gal / litres.
Switch into remix mode , confirming the 13 gal already in the tank
Move the dials to your new recipe and the app immediately updates the different amounts to add in front of your eyes including the correct amount of extra surfactant.

You now have a 100 gal / litres tank of 4% soft wash recipe ready for your roof clean job!

Not forgetting you’ve saved money too, all without stress and uncertainty . Don’t underestimate what confident calmness has on your customer putting out referrals.

The same applies if you have a 4% recipe left in your tank and you need to dilute it down to 2%. Again the app will tell you how.

Softwashing calculator will also work for any chemical recipe. For instance you can use it for Sodium Hypochlorite, Bleach, Biocide , TFR traffic film remover and degreaser. Even the mathematically-challenged rocket scientist can top up their booster tanks to new fuel mixes after launch delays caused by changing weather conditions.

Using this app you will know exactly what chemical strength to put on any surface giving you the confidence and the knowledge of a professional soft washer and you’ll save money as well.

So if you have little knowledge of how to mix a soft wash recipe then this app is for you.
If you have little knowledge of how to remix a soft wash recipe then this app is for you.
If you want to save money when mixing a soft wash recipe then this app is for you.

This app is also backward compatible to devices running iOS7. We've done this so you can re-purpose an old iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 5 for what could be hazardous work environments. Just toss one in your cleaning van's toolkit.

Once you learn the methods and procedures of how to apply the soft wash to the different surfaces that need cleaning you’ll be unstoppable!

The app also has a guide to what percentage for what surface. And if you are the lucky owner of a Clever Injector it will remind you the correct setting for the job.
However you should always consider and risk assess what soft wash recipe you need to clean the surface.

** A major iOS code-base change may require a re-purchase. The appiverse at the time will confirm our promise that we won't do so unless the necessity is apparent.

01733 736191 Voicemail