clean rust stains from your patio

How to clean rust stains from a patio

Unfortunately, rust stains are an all too common problem on patios and other stone or concrete areas.

As garden furniture and equipment is often metal it can rust when exposed to the delightful British weather leaving unsightly marks on your patio. These stains can be particularly stubborn and generally cannot be removed using water alone – even if using a pressure washer.

Don’t panic though, it is quite simple to remove rust stains with Owatrol’s Net-Trol by following our how-to guide.

Yellow stianing to patio slabs
Rust damaged patio

Step 1: Wet the surface

First wet the surface with fresh clean water.

Step 2: Apply Net-Trol to the surface

Apply the Net-Trol cleaner with a stiff nylon scrubbing brush working in to the rust stain. Then, leave it to work for 10-20 minutes.

Step 3: Rinse and Scrub

Next, scrub the surface with a stiff nylon scrubbing brush again and rinse with large amounts of fresh clean water (you could use a pressure washer here to make your job easier if you have one). For particularly stubborn rust stains you may need to repeat this process again.

Net-Trol is biodegradable and so it is not harmful to plants or animals. This means you don’t need to worry too much about covering surrounding areas – unless you don’t want them to get wet of course! We would however, recommend thoroughly wetting surrounding plants once you finish.

Preventing rust marks caused by garden furniture

To help to prevent rust marks from re-appearing we would recommend coating your garden furniture with Owatrol Oil – it will prevent damage caused by moisture and should help to prevent unsightly rust marks too. Owatrol Oil is a colourless and odourless rust inhibitor and provides enhanced corrosion protection.


We hope you found this post on how to clean rust stains from your patio interesting. If you have any other advice or top tips, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. We love hearing from you!

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Owatrol Team
About Owatrol Team

Our team are ready and willing to support you with your requirements whether it is protecting your newly laid deck or renovating a luxury yacht, whatever the application Owatrol has the solution you are looking for.

8 thoughts on “How to clean rust stains from a patio

    1. Hi Nick,

      I am sorry to hear this.
      We recommend leaving Net-Trol on for longer for stubborn stains – also, repeating the process should give you the desired results.

      Can I please ask what type of patio stone you used Net-Trol on?

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

  1. This product removes the stains initially but they keep coming back in the same places but more widespread, obviously from the scrubbing.
    Have tried 3 times now, should we continue?

    1. Hi there Michelle,

      Could you please elaborate on what you mean that the stains keep coming back? Is the item that is creating the rust stains still in the same place? – For example, if the stain was being created from a rusting table leg. If this is the case, the rusted item would need to be protected with a product such as Owatrol Oil: https://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/owatrol-oil/ to prevent it from creating further rusting on the surface. This will stop you from needing to constantly keep applying the Net-Trol.

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

  2. My new patio was laid a couple of months ago – almost immediately brown spots appeared in about a dozen of the grey slabs. The company who laid it said they would fade but they have not – I have read of several products to remove them but it sounds like a lot of hard work for an OAP – also if I do manage to remove the brown spots will they recur later.

    1. Hi there,

      I’m not sure what it is that is appearing on your slabs – if it is rust drips running off from something, then Net-Trol could be a good way of removing them.
      I would recommend purchasing a sample pot of Net-Trol: https://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/net-trol/ for £5 with free delivery and just testing it out on a small area first to see if to will do what you need it to do.

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

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