While you may enjoy the sounds of birds chirping early in the morning and throughout the day, your joy is short-lived when you walk outside and see your floor littered with poops. Not only can bird poop contain dangerous substances that can be harmful to your health, but their poop also contains acids that can damage your roofs, walls, concrete, and any other surfaces.
In this article, we will be examining basic and advanced ways of getting rid of bird poop from concrete.
Do You Need to Clean Bird Poop Off Your Concrete Slabs?
Contrary to what we might have known, bird poop is not usually white. Birds excrete both pee and poop through the same outlet, the cloaca, unlike humans who have separate passageways for each excretion. To reduce the rate of water loss, bird poops are converted to acids or guanines instead of urea as in humans. The white paste is the urine formed by the uric acids, while the dark brown substance in the middle is the faeces.
The unattractive stains on your concrete are the mild consequence of bird droppings, there are more serious consequences. The uric acid in the poop is strong enough to disintegrate your building materials. Guano in birds can cause damage to concrete, paint, metals, and marble in this way. These damages can cause water leakage which can lead to flooding.
Aside from your concrete, bird droppings can be problematic for historic sites whose aesthetic look adds to its value. Monumental or old church buildings may begin to wear and tear with time due to consistent intake of bird droppings.
What about our health? Bird poop can constitute health hazards for humans. They contain Histoplasma fungus and Chlamydia bacteria. These two cause low immunity in humans if inhaled. They can also cause diarrhea and vomiting in humans due to some bacteria they contain which leads to several gastrointestinal diseases.
These and many more are reasons why we need to regularly clean bird poops off concrete. If they are in small amounts, they may pose minimal threat, but they become riskier when there are heaps of dried concentrated bird droppings.
3 Best Ways to Clean Bird Poop Off Concrete
Let’s take a look at the three best way to clean bird poop off concrete, from the easiest and lightest to the most effective one.
#1: Surface Cleaning
This method is suitable if there are only a few amounts of droppings on the concrete. You will need the following:
- Hose
- Dish soap
- Scrub brush
The process is as follows:
- Wet the affected area using the hose.
- Apply soap to the affected area.
- Use the scrub brush to clean off the stains.
- Rinse the area with water from the hose.
This is one of the easiest ways to get rid of bird poop from your concrete, but this method is ineffective when the stains are dried or when there is a large amount of poop on your concrete.
#2: Moderate Cleaning
When there is a moderate amount of bird poop, the surface method might not be very effective. You have to adopt this mid-advanced method to get rid of the poop. You will need the following:
- Mask to prevent inhaling bird poop which can cause respiratory illnesses
- Hose or any electric pressure washer
- Specialized concrete cleaning chemicals or dish soap
- Scrub brush
- Optional items: sawdust, dust bin, or broom
For this method, follow the steps below:
- Wash off surface dirt using the hose or electric pressure washer.
- Apply specialized chemical or dish soap to the affected area and scrub to remove the stains using the brush
- If the affected area is large, apply sawdust and leave for about 10 minutes for the feces to be absorbed
- Now, use the broom to sweep and dispose of the sawdust in the bin
- Repeat steps until the area are clean
How do you handle stubborn stains? After the above processes, there may still be some stains that won’t leave. To remove them you’d need the following: brush, hydrogen peroxide or a specialized concrete cleaning chemical. Hydrogen Peroxide can be gotten from any drug store as it has medical uses but it is a good industrial cleaner. You’ll also need water tap source or any other source that guarantees enough water supply.
Continue the first five steps by applying the cleaning chemical or hydrogen peroxide moderately on the affected surface and leaving it there for a few minutes. Then, scrub the surface with a brush and a generous amount of water.
#3: Deep Cleaning
This method is suitable when the birds constantly mess up your concrete. You’d need the following:
- Mask and protective gloves
- Heavy-duty electric pressure water or water spray
- All-purpose cleaners or specialised concrete cleaners
- Large brush for scrubbing
- Sawdust
- Broom
- Muriatic acid
To clean your concrete this way, do the following:
- Pre-wash the affected surface using the water jet or any heavy-duty pressure washer; make sure to wet the area thoroughly
- Scrub the surface vigorously using the scrub brush for as long as you can
- Sweep the area clean
- Rinse with enough water
- Repeat till the affected surface is clean
For extra stubborn stains, you can use muriatic acid after diluting.
Mistakes to Avoid, Tips & Tricks
While cleaning, take note of the following:
- If you decide to use muriatic acid discussed above, make sure you dilute it
- After applying detergents or sawdust to the affected surface in any of the methods, don’t rinse off immediately; allow for the sawdust to absorb the poop
- You can keep birds away by using some scent that repels them – some of these scents are peppermint, garlic, and vinegar
Summary
Everyone enjoys having birds around our home. However, we don’t appreciate the poop they leave behind on our concrete or walls.
While we can let the rains wash off the mess these creatures leave behind, they may not always be cleaned properly or to our taste. When you want to give your concrete a good clean from bird droppings, you can go ahead and adopt one of the methods we discussed above.
Before leaving, you might also want to learn about how to remove rust from concrete and how to remove paint from concrete.