Pressure washing driveway - what works best ?

Alfred

Alfred

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So I spent many tedious hours pressure washing the concrete driveway. It was pretty bad ( leaves and soil stained mostly, not much oil etc ) and hadn't properly been cleaned all the way in a few years. I have an older Generac 3000 psi unit and only have a turbo nozzle to use...so its real slow going and there's a lot of concrete.
I really tried to "embrace the suck" but I aint doing that again.

Any recommendations on surface cleaners or other wands that work worth a crap ?
 
Yes takes time with turbo it not, I just use water, I do it just before Halloween each year. Less then 100' two car driveway.
 
Muriatic acid some water and a push broom will turn concrete white as snow and remove most organic stains. A couple of gallons from Lowes will clean the average driveway with very little effort. Pressure wash rinse when done and make sure to read up on safety precautions/PPE
 
Pressure washing can really eat up a driveway if it's done wrong . I've seen a number of them done to the point the aggregate is showing after the cement is blasted away
 
For concrete I just use water and the pressure washer BUT I did realize if you wait and pressure washer after a good rain before the smutz dries and harden itvdoes come off a little easier than if it’s been baked on by the Sun for days.
 
surface cleaners are great
I toss a little dish soap down too to help with any oil/chemical residues
 
On concrete.......low to medium pressure, patience and some type of detergent-mild acid that safe for concrete. With higher pressures.......say 2400 psi and above, its easy to remove concrete. It can be done, you just have to be careful.
 
JohnFreeman said:
Pressure washing can really eat up a driveway if it's done wrong . I've seen a number of them done to the point the aggregate is showing after the cement is blasted away
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Too late, the previous owner already screwed up some sections- one reason why its so hard to clean is a real porous surface that's been blasted too hard. The spots that aren't ruined are a joy to clean off, the rest of it is a total pain in the ass plus there's a lot of cracking ( not enough relief breaks I guess.) I got some bids to replace the concrete that went north of $12k, so...that'll have to wait for a while.
 
Johnny said:
Muriatic acid some water and a push broom will turn concrete white as snow and remove most organic stains. A couple of gallons from Lowes will clean the average driveway with very little effort. Pressure wash rinse when done and make sure to read up on safety precautions/PPE
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Acid to Water....like you oughta.
Otherwise the water when added to acid can react violently and splash up causing severe burns, etc and that is not a good thing.
 
Johnny said:
Muriatic acid some water and a push broom will turn concrete white as snow and remove most organic stains. A couple of gallons from Lowes will clean the average driveway with very little effort. Pressure wash rinse when done and make sure to read up on safety precautions/PPE
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CAREFUL- I did this, soaked the concrete water first, added a bit of MA, swept with a broom, rinsed with a low pressure washer, aggregate gone.
 
Will TSP damage the concrete - that is my plan to try when I get the energy....
 
I don’t have a pressure washer so I cleaned some small areas of my patio with simple green and a deck brush. It took little effort and worked great. I’ll likely do the whole thing in the spring.
 
Jerzsubbie said:
I don’t have a pressure washer so I cleaned some small areas of my patio with simple green and a deck brush. It took little effort and worked great. I’ll likely do the whole thing in the spring.
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I have about 130 feet of concrete driveway, so I'm looking at bleach....:D
 
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ZEP brand concrete driveway cleaner, concentrated makes 20 gallons working solution,
no chlorine bleach, uses a sodium bleach, less aggressive vs chlorine. Brush on or power washer application.
 
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