My Garden

Pressure washers and patios

Last post 11-03-2009 11:06 AM by Victoria. 4 replies.

• 10/03/2009 08:50 PM

  Victoria Location: Wandsworth Joined on: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 10

  Reply | Contact OK, here's an ethical dilemma. I've always resisted the idea of cleaning my patio with a pressure washer. I rather like the odd bit of lichen or whatever, and I've always considered pressure washing a bit of a waste of water. However, after two wet summers and a long winter, the paving is getting a tad slimy, especially where the birds drop bits of food. I hate the idea of anyone slipping on it and hurting themselves. I don't tend to use chemicals in the garden, so I don't clean it with Jeyes Fluid either. I usually end up hosing it down and scrubbing at it with a yard brush, which is quite hard work, so the idea of a pressure washer has become more tempting. What do other gardeners think/do?

• 10/03/2009 09:11 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743

  Reply | Contact Hello Victoria, I would use the pressure washer, I think you will use more water using a standard hosepipe because it will need to be on for longer than the pressure washer, the environment is full of water and no doubt you will be paying a hefty price for your water anyway, so use it in the pressure washer. I have a pressure washer and I use it without any reservations whatsoever. digger

• 10/03/2009 10:20 PM

  In reply to

  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347

  Reply | Contact  If it's not a large patio, then getting out a pressure washer, using it and putting it away again might be as much work as using the scrubbing brush. You also have to buy the thing and find somewhere to store it and have a way to connect it to the electricity supply. If you do buy one consider how easy it will be to move around and how heavy. Perhaps you could hire one next time you need to clean the patio and using it might help you reach a decision. I don't think that adding chemicals to the water helps much with the cleaning whichever method you use and I'm not aware of anything that makes much difference to how quickly the slimey surface returns. Depending on what it's made of, you could consider doing something to the surface to improve the grip - concrete can have groves cut in it, for example. Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 11/03/2009 09:16 AM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact  The pressure washer here wins every time over the scrubbing method.  As the force of the water shifts the green stuff on it's own, we don't need to add any chemicals to the tank. sue1002

• 11/03/2009 11:06 AM	In reply to
  Victoria Location: Wandsworth Joined on: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 10	Reply | Contact Thanks so much for all the advice: I hadn't realised you could hire pressure washers, so I think I'll try that. And thanks to Digger too for the point about water. Sometimes you can't quite believe that an appliance (like say a dishwasher) can use less water than doing things by hand, so it was a good reminder.