“Zebra Striping” Photo by Ethan Dunlap Concrete by Dunlap Tomball, Texas

Pressure washing your driveway is a task that should be undertaken with extreme caution. Water under pressure from a spray nozzle can and does cause instantaneous damage to eyes and skin and serious injuries every year. Wear the proper protection and be mindful at all times where your jet is streaming.

“Clean concrete is 80% of curb appeal,” says Neil Wein of Fortune-Johnson, construction manager of Georgia based company. “You can do it yourself, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can cause permanent damage to your home and driveway.”

For one, pressure washers are not a must-own piece of equipment for home owners.  As a result, your tool rental service may just rent you a unit without asking what your exact intentions are. That in mind, you may not get the nozzle on the sprayer that is best for you.

“What you really want is not a nozzle. It’s a circular attachment made for cleaning flat surfaces. The rotary head spins and cleans the concrete. It not only saves you a bunch of time, but helps minimize the damage you can cause to your driveway.”

Power washing concrete, if not done correctly, can ruin it for all time. Yes, you will clean the crud out of it, but you may also blast out the fine particles. Sometimes known as “zebra striping,” which results from getting too close and too far from the surface. Getting too close permanently etches the concrete while being too far away does not clean. You must maintain a uniform distance while cleaning to provide the best results. “Using a wand on a large, flat concrete surface takes much longer and is much more difficult to manage than using the rotary attachment.”

“Ideally, you want to maintain a constant distance from the surface. The rotating head spins when the water emerges which causes a floating sensation above the concrete. It is less likely that you will create zebra striping and the cleaning process goes faster.” He added that almost always the appropriate nozzles need to be requested. While some people run bleach solutions through the pressure washer, Wein  advises against it.

“Bleaching would probably be used on wood surfaces such as decks. Acid and detergents are generally used for concrete. It is best to wet the area first, and apply the cleaning solution of choice, mixed per manufacturer’s directions, with a garden sprayer. I personally prefer not to run any solutions through a pressure washer.”

By keeping these pointers in mind, using a power washer can be a wonderful tool. But like all tools, it demands a high level of respect. Done right and done well, you can exponentially increase your curb appeal and maintain safety.

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