How to Clean Bird Poop off Concrete

Bird poop on your concrete sidewalk or patio is both a nuisance and a little gross. Not only is it unsightly, but bird poop can contain bacteria that you don’t really want to come into contact with.

Sometimes its as simple as hosing the poop off, but that doesn’t always work. Here are a few tried and true strategies to get bird poop off of concrete.

How to Clean Fresh Bird Poop Off Of Concrete

If you just have a little bit of fresh bird poop, then it should be pretty simple to remove.

For an area that is a bit more covered with bird poop, or the poop has hardened over time, look further below in this article.

There’s a difference in how we rinse these messes—we do this for environmental reasons, which we will explain in the moderate method. 

Materials

To clean your fresh bird poop, you’ll need the following materials:

• Hose
• Dish soap
• Brush to scrub

Method

If the bird poop is relatively new, it’s much easier to clean off. That’s why it’s better to take care of this problem sooner than later! To clean off your bird poop, follow the steps below:

1. Hose the area down: Put your thumb over the water to create a more concentrated spray
2. Pour some dish soap on the remaining stain
3. Use your brush (preferably a natural-bristle brush) to scrub at the bird poop and get those dish bubbles going and get the bird poop off the concrete
4. Rinse with your hose

If you don’t want to rinse the bird poop into the yard, you can also wipe it up with paper towels or a rag. And there you are! A clean concrete surface once again. 

Stain Removal

Did the method work to actually remove the bird poop, but didn’t quite get up all the stains it left behind? We have a solution for that, too. You will need:

• Hydrogen Peroxide or a concrete cleaner
• Hose
• Brush to scrub

To remove those hard set stains, follow these steps:

1. Pour hydrogen peroxide or your concrete cleaner on the stains
2. Scrub the material in over the stain
3. Let sit for as long as needed (this can be a couple minutes or longer)
4. Rinse off with hose

Your concrete should look great after this stain removal process.  

How to Clean Old, Hardened Bird Poop Off Of Concrete

If you’re working with old, crusty, hardened bird poop stains, dish soap and scrubbing may not do the job. When you are cleaning an older stain, it can also be a good idea to wear a mask.

According to the Chicago Tribune, you can actually get flu symptoms from breathing in the particles of bird poop! Whenever you are looking at a moderate bird poop stain, you should plan for a little more muscle and materials. 

Materials

To clean hard bird poop, you will want to have these materials on hand:

• Hose with spray attachment OR light power-washer
• Dish soap OR a concrete cleaner 
• Large scrub brush or push brush
• Optional: Sawdust
• Optional: Broom and dustpan

We definitely stepped up the materials here.

If you don’t want to buy a specific concrete cleaner, you can also use an all-purpose cleaner, such as Simple Green, which will work on many surfaces. This way, you aren’t making a purchase for just this project.

Method

The method here is similar to cleaning fresh poo, but stepped up a notch. Follow these instructions to clean an old, hardened bird poop mess from your concrete:

1. Use your power washer or hose attachment to get rid of as many loose particles as possible
2. Pour your dish soap or cleaner over the bird poop area
3. Using your scrub brush or push brush, scrub the area
4. If you are cleaning a large area, use sawdust to sprinkle over the area
5. Let the sawdust absorb the mess
6. Using your broom and dustpan, sweep up the area and dispose
7. Repeat as needed

If you aren’t worried about the bird poop particles going into your yard, you can simply rinse and repeat as needed. 

If the poop has stained your concrete, you’ll need to find a way to remove the stain. If you are using that heavier duty cleaner, that will help remove the stains.

How to Clean High Volumes of Bird Poop Off Concrete

Okay, so you’ve got a major mess on your hands. The birds have really picked your driveway, your Azek decking, or sidewalk for their business and you need to clean it as soon as possible.

For this method, you need to make sure to wear a protective mask—and you might also consider wearing gloves as well. 

We can definitely get that mess off your concrete—it will take a bit more work and materials, but we will go over that now.

Materials

For major stains, we will need more materials. You’ll want to have the following on hand:

• Hose with spray attachment OR power-washer
• Concrete cleaner or all-purpose cleaner
• Large push brush
• Muriatic Acid
• Sawdust
• Broom and dustpan

For those bigger areas of bird poop, you don’t want to simply rinse it off into your yard. That will leave the disease and potentially kill your grass. 

Method

To clean major stains, follow these steps:

1. Using your power washer or spray attachment, rinse the area well
2. Make sure all of the bird poop is damp at least with your rinse
3. Use your large push brush to scrub vigorously and get as much off as you can
4. Use your broom and dustpan to collect what you can and throw that away
5. Rinse and repeat as needed

If this does not clean off all the mess, you will want to look into using a more specialized cleaner—either concrete cleaner or muriatic acid. 

If using muriatic acid, you will need to dilute it. It works pretty well for cleaning plastic gas tanks. Never pour water into acid. You will want a water, muriatic acid ratio of 4:1. Prepare your water and pour in the right amount of acid. Then, follow these steps:

1. Apply the solution on the leftover stains
2. Wait for the stains to lift
3. Rinse off immediately

Failure to rinse the muriatic acid immediately can result in your concrete being ruined – keep this in mind as you are using muriatic acid.

A concrete cleaner will be able to lift stains effectively as well, but it comes with a bit higher price tag as it’s such a specialized product. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Staining

Birds have a diet of berries and other colorful foods. Their poop is a direct product of what they eat. Therefore, if it lands on a lighter-colored concrete and is left there for a long time, it can definitely stain the concrete. 

The sooner you clean up those unsightly stains, the less likely it is to stain your concrete. That means a little cleaning now can prevent a lot of cleaning later. 

Diseases

We covered how birds and their poop can contain up to 60 diseases. It’s true that bird poop isn’t specifically dangerous on its own. However, poop that is left for a long time in a large quantity can grow bacteria and fungi. 

If you just have a dropping or two on your driveway, you probably don’t need to be majorly concerned. However, if a flock of birds left a major amount behind, you may need to follow the above methods and make sure that the bird poop is cleaned off in full. 

Unsightliness 

Are you going for the yard of the year award? You may not get it with a pile of poop on your driveway. If you aren’t worried about that as much, you could probably leave a couple of droppings to be naturally removed by weathering. It is your yard, after all, so it’s your ultimate decision. 

Conclusion

When a flock of birds decide to use your driveway as their bathroom, it can be frustrating. Luckily, it’s relatively simple to clean up—especially if you get the mess quickly before it has set in. You just need a few materials and a little scrubbing to get your concrete looking as good as it did before!