Keeping a patio clean from above balcony

April 20, 2009 4:39 PM

How do I keep my 1st floor patio clean/dry while being able to spray clean an overhead balcony?

I have a balcony that regularly gets dirty from leaves, pine needles, dirt and I hose it off once every couple weeks. I have a cement patio directly below that gets extremely dirty from this as well as flooding of the area in front of the patio.

Now that the weather is nice, I'd like to start using this lower patio, and possibly use the 2-3ft area in front to grow some vegetables.

I do want to be able to clean my balcony regularly. Does anyone know of any solutions to handle both?

I was thinking a gutter but I would be washing a lot of debris into it, plus I'm usually spraying with some pressure so the dirt might even fly over the gutter.

posted by wongcorgi to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

how about blowing it off (leaf blower) instead of hosing it?
posted by HuronBob at 5:03 PM on April 20, 2009

I would think blowing or spraying it off would have the same effect, with the former being less sloppy. Maybe it's time to think sucking instead of blowing;)
Vacuum it?
posted by Acacia at 5:08 PM on April 20, 2009

My leaf blower is also a leaf vacuum. It chops everything up nicely and conveniently bags it up as well.
posted by torquemaniac at 5:11 PM on April 20, 2009

How high is the upper balcony? You could temporarily attach a tarp to the upper balcony and tie it off at the bottom or weight it, giving you a kind of debris slide. When you spray, the junk will flow down the tarp, away from the clean patio. Afterwards, just roll up the tarp
posted by zerokey at 5:37 PM on April 20, 2009

Either vacuum with a "wet dry" vac (brands like this are available at any hardware store), or plan on cleaning the lower level after you do the upper.
posted by kestrel251 at 6:30 PM on April 20, 2009

Broom?
posted by electroboy at 6:34 AM on April 21, 2009 [1 favorite]