Cleaning Cherry tree Blossoms off Indian Sandstone Paving?

One of my client's has her whole back garden paved with Indian sandstone paving blocks ... and has flower beds that run on both sides of the property

The neighbour has a huge ornamental cherry tree .... which is right next to the garden fence adjoining the 2 properties .... he is an old guy, and refuses to remove the tree

in the past few years, the cherry blossoms have not been a major problem, very messy for a few weeks, but it was easy to sweep them off the paving blocks

However, this year, when the pink petals dropped, it rained, so the petals stuck to the paving and I could not sweep them up

today, I tried again with the garden broom, but they were still stuck to the paving .... I managed to remove the petals (there were loads), with a steel hand brush

I made mention to my client that we could try using a power pressure cleaner, but she says that she thinks it's detremental to use a power pressure cleaner on Indian Sandstone ...

the cherry blossoms have stained the paving blocks in places (small circular stains) .... What is the best way to clean this?

 

Hi Dim

If I was the old guy I woudnt want to remove the tree either .

I woudnt of used a steel hand brush , you will roughen the surface even more that may cause slime and algy and the like to grow its porous stone as you know and with Indian Sandstone it doesnt look good for long in the UK just to wet and damp woudnt be my choice as I was looking two years ago and my builder mate told me to keep away from it knowing how fussy I am, they should of been removed on a daily basis , using a power spray on a low setting using just soapy water nothing else , sounds if they have baked in the sun .

Sorry

Spruce

 

than

Thanks Spruce ... not much sun in the area (the cherry tree blocks out the sun), but the beds have been planted with plants that do ok in semi-sun .... I only work there once a week and when the blossoms fell, it was raining .... the following week, it rained again ....

will make mention of the power spray/soap

 

O blimey, don't use a steel brush on stone, little bits break off & cause rust staining within the stone. We only use stainless steel or phosphor bronze.

To get the staining out, you need to wet the stone & apply a poltice. That could be anything that will absorb stuff, wood/paper pulp, clay, wallpaper paste, i've even used dough.

The stain will be drawn up into the poltice medium as the stone dries. Might take a few applications.

 

too

too late .. paving has been scrubbed with a wire brush, but there are still a few white spots .... will try the poltice stuff

 

Don't use bleach either as the salts could crystalise out & disrupt the matrix of the Sandstone.

 

Dunno if it is a good idea, but you can "seal" Indian sandstone with some sort of coating (I suppose it can be described as being similar to Varnishing), which brings up the colour of Indian sandstone nicely, and makes it easier to clean.

But Ziggy or someone can now tell me whether this is good for the stone, or not ??

 

thanks for the replies ... I will pass on the info to the lady