The Moss Is Always Greener

I was getting so embarrassed! It seemed like every day our front steps were getting greener and greener - and I don't mean in an eco-friendly way! The moss that had been there since we moved in was slowly taking over the surface of the bricks, making them a little slippery and very unsightly.

So while doing some research I learned that there is a hard way and an easy way to remove moss.

Hard way: Pour boiling water on the moss and scrub. Not a bad idea if you have time, energy, patience and elbow grease. I think I have 1 out of 4. (You figure out which one.)

Easy way: Use bleach to coat the moss. When it turns white, power-wash it off.

Can you guess which I did?

Since I really didn't feel like spending all day Saturday on my hands and knees on the steps, I poured a bottle of bleach over the moss-infected area and let it sit. (The experts also suggest putting it in a spray bottle and soaking the area that way.)

It turned white within 10 minutes, but I let it sit longer so it would get down deep - I wasn't about to do this all again.

Then I turned the garden hose nozzle onto "Typhoon" and watched in amazement as the now-white moss flew off the steps. As you can see it even whitened my grout! There's still some scrubbing to do in the little crevices, but this process saved me a ton of time and effort.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet...
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee...
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit...
Read more