[beach43ofus]

Lanai rookie here. Our Lanai on our newly built home is large, has a painted & textured cement slab floor. No pool, no pets, no kids. We had it all screened in w/ bronze aluminum frame and Fifer 20/20 screen. The exterior walls are stucco.

The Lanai faces South, but it the Sun still manages to reach ~1/2 of the floor each morning. No trees on our property, or w/in falling distance, so good air circulation. No flowers or plants inside the Lanai, some plants/shrubs outside of it, but at least 2 feet away. Pine nugget mulch I'm removing soon anyways.

We've been in the home 8 months now, and parts of the floor are just beginniing to get Black mildew. Not too bad yet, but its noticeable, and I'd like to clean it.

I see these plastic gallon bottles in the home improvement stores, "wet & forget" was 1 brand I saw, but geez they are $10/jug. I don't own a pressure washer, and I think that would be overkill at this point. I'd like to avoid having to buy, or rent, a pressure washer, or costly chemicals.

Can't I just use some bleach diluted 90% w/ hot water, and a rigid broom, then hose it away? Would that harm the bronze finish on the screen? The painted floor? If I mistakingly splash some on the vinyl screen, will it damage the screen?

Do I really need the costly cleanser?

[bbronston]

Have you already tried a stream of water and a brush? Seems like that should be your starting point.

[Corrie22]

beach....wash it down good with hose and nozzel

mop bucket of water, good glug of Clorox, good squirt of Dawn/Palmolive....scrub brush

..won't hurt anything

[Fredesch]

You can use tile cleaner, same as you would use in a shower. Or you can get the power wash stuff. Either way will work.

[beach43ofus]

Awesome tips. Thx all! Glad I dont have to buy the $10/jug stuff. My 3 car garage is already in need to organizing, so I'm trying to avoid buying a pressure washer.

[Taksan]

Now our cleaning guy uses something he mixes up himself...it does smell like ammonia bleach to me our floor is like a coral stone paver but gets the same black mildewed stuff.

[OpinionInOcala]

Originally Posted by Taksan

Now our cleaning guy uses something he mixes up himself...it does smell like ammonia bleach to me our floor is like a coral stone paver but gets the same black mildewed stuff.

If your "cleaning guy" is mixing ammonia and bleach, he's a lunatic. I can't stress enough how much these two shouldn't be mixed. Ever. Please ensure these are not the two chemicals he is mixing.

[Dax13]

Originally Posted by OpinionInOcala

If your "cleaning guy" is mixing ammonia and bleach, he's a lunatic. I can't stress enough how much these two shouldn't be mixed. Ever. Please ensure these are not the two chemicals he is mixing.

Absolutely!!!!! Don't even use one right after the other. Ever. OpInOc is right on the money and literally deadly serious.

Dax

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by Dax13

Absolutely!!!!! Don't even use one right after the other. Ever. OpInOc is right on the money and literally deadly serious.

Dax

Chlorine gas is what you get...just like they used in World War I.

With more ammonia you also get hydrazine, which was used as a toxic rocket fuel.

[beach43ofus]

I will NOT be mixing Bleach and Ammonia. I think I'll start out with a mixture of 90% water, 10% bleach on a small area, use a brush w/ long handle, then rinse with my hose using a high pressure nozzle.

I hope this won't discolor my bronze colored screen framing, or harm the vinyl screen. I doubt it could harm the painted textured floor surface. I think I'll dry the frame with an old towell, then discard, and use my leaf blower from a safe distance to blow any water off the screen.

I heard at some point, I'll also need to clean the screen w/ mildew cleaner. I hear Green slime will start to grow on it. My screen gets quite a bit of morning Sun, so perhaps that won't be very often.