The Backyard Showdown

Backyard School — everything outside the pool

Backyard School is how to care for everything outside the pool, starting with the ground you stand on: patios, pavers and decks. Most patio advice is one recipe for every surface: bleach, a pressure washer, a sealer. The people who make the surfaces disagree. The stone institute allows a mild bleach on outdoor stone and bans vinegar; the brick institute caps the pressure washer at 400 psi; TimberTech bans the very "composite deck cleaners" sold for its boards. So everything here starts with what your patio is made of, and every rule is the maker's or the trade body's own.

The deck around a pool?Pool deck care, by material →Still choosing a surface?Pool deck materials compared →

Outdoor kitchen

Plan the layout and the budget before you buy the appliances.

The $2,000 vs $5,000 vs $10,000+ Outdoor Kitchen: What Each Budget Actually Gets You (2026)An outdoor kitchen starts with a built-in grill head set into an island. What about $2,000, $5,000 and $10,000+ each buy, priced from the heads our built-in grill showdown picks and from dated island, fridge and build-cost reads.Outdoor Kitchen Layout: Zones, Clearances and How Long Your Counter Needs to Be (Calculator)Lay it out by zone, then size the counter: Kalamazoo's outdoor method puts 24 in of counter on one side of the grill and 12 on the other. Five grill manuals print five different clearances to combustibles, from 6¼ to 24 in. Read yours before you build.

Clean it

What to put on each surface, and what never to.

How to Clean a Patio by Material: Pavers, Concrete, Stone, Brick, Porcelain, Wood and CompositeBleach is fine on stone and pavers, wrong on a capped composite deck; brick wants under 400 psi; vinegar etches travertine. The cleaner and the pressure, surface by surface, from the people who make the surfaces.How to Use a Meat Thermometer on the Grill or Smoker: Where the Probe Goes, Cut by CutThe USDA's 145, 160 and 165°F are safety minimums; 203°F brisket is a texture target. Put the tip in the thickest part, off the bone, past the probe's insertion line, and read the lowest number. Check the thermometer in a packed ice bath: 32°F.

Stop it coming back

Mold, algae and moss on a patio in a humid climate.

How to Stop Mold and Algae Coming Back on a Patio (Humid South Edition)Pressure washing removes growth; it does not stop it. Take away the shade, standing water and leaf litter it lives on, then use a leave-on spray once a year — and know which cleaners can go near the plants and the pool.

Seal it

Penetrating or film-forming — chosen by material, not by the shine on the can.

Penetrating vs Film-Forming Sealer: Which One Your Patio Needs (By Material)Penetrating sealers soak in and change nothing you can see or feel; films give a wet look and can turn slick and cloudy. The brick institute says don't coat clay pavers, the Forest Products Lab says no films on decks, and porcelain needs nothing at all.

Shopping for what goes on the patio rather than what goes on the floor? Patio furniture showdowns · Fire & heat · Lighting