When buying a patio cover, many people skip over thinking about the durability of their product. However, if you have been a home owner for some time, you know that taking care of your patio cover to extend the life of the product is pretty important. It can be a financial burden to replace a product that simply could have been taken care of with some regular cleaning.
These are the best tips to make your patio cover last longer, regardless of the material of your particular product.
Aluminum Patio Cover Care
It’s not all that hard to take care of an aluminum patio cover. If you think about it, these patio covers were built to last and even when you get rainfall, that will be effectively washing them to some extent. However, you can’t count on that to do all of the work – there are going to be times when you will need to clean this cover regardless of the rain. There are also covers that can get put into areas that may be out of the reach of natural rainfall, so those covers will definitely need a cleanse.
If your aluminum cover is only slightly dirty, there’s no need to go crazy on the cover. You can wash this kind of situation with a regular garden hose and a car washing brush. However, there are times when you need to do a more thorough cleansing for whatever reason. If that’s the case, you’ll want to upgrade the “solution” that is used when cleaning.
If you’ve got a lot of dirt, here is the solution that should be used:
- 1 gallon of water
- 1/3 cup of Tide (or other Laundry Detergent)
- 2/3 cup of trisodium phosphate
That solution is going to help give you a bit of extra kick to get rid of that dirt.
If you have mildew on your cover, you should use a similar solution but add a mixture that has more water and a bit of Clorox mixed in.
Fabric Patio Cover Care
Fabric awnings need cleaned more often than aluminum ones do. These canopies are out in the elements and can experience a lot of rainfall, extreme temperatures, and a mixture of dirt and all kinds of stuff that can either cause mold or other undesirable features.
Generally, you want to refer to the manufacturer instructions for whatever cleaning material you are planning on using. If you think your solution may damage the material at all, be sure to test your cleaning mix on a small portion of the cover that is normally out of sight.
However, most fabric awnings can be taken care of by using a bucket of cold water and dish soap. Make sure you use sweeping motions when cleaning the fabric and work from the top down so that you are not simply getting everything dirty each time you sweep across the fabric. You can often find commercial cleaning products as well, so if you have a commercial building or you find that your covers are dirty on a regular basis due to the environment, you may want to consider that as well.
