How to Pressure Wash Your Brick Patios and Walkways

Certain areas around the home require a little extra strength when you try to clean them. Case in point, brick patios and walkways. These are some of the more challenging areas of your exterior that can be tough to get clean. Which is why pressure washing is an ideal method for getting into all of those hard to reach crevices.

But in order to do the most effective job at power washing bedford nh, you need to know how best to get it done. That’s where this quick little guide comes in. We’re going to tell you the best tips to wash your walkways and brick patios so your exterior areas look good as new.

Check Your Surfaces

While most walkways and brick patios are constructed from high-quality, durable materials that are designed to withstand all types of abuse, you should still do a full inspection of the areas where you plan to aim that pressure washer nozzle. That’s because even the strongest surfaces could have some small vulnerabilities in the form of cracks and fractures. These can weaken the material, causing some form of damage, and resulting in some repair or replacement costs you weren’t planning on spending.

Pre-Soaking

You will want to do this depending on how much dirt and grime you need to remove. Pre-soaking allows for you to jar some of the top layers loose while moistening the hardest and toughest stuff so that it’s a lot easier to eliminate.

You can do all of this with a low-pressure setting, just enough to wet your surface and weaken the hard grime for removal.

Temperature

The hotter the water you’re using to pressure clean your exteriors, the more effective it can be and the less cleaning detergent you’ll need to rely on. Consider cranking up the temperature as you increase the pressure of your water. It may just be a lot more useful than the colder alternative. Dirt and grime respond much quicker to water at higher temperatures.

Nozzle Selection

When you work with a pressure washer you will have a variety of nozzles from which to choose. Each type of nozzle provides you with the ability to control certain aspects of the water being expelled. Every nozzle will come with a setting that offers a particular angle and size of opening. Depending on the type and amount of dirt and grime you need to clear out, you will need to select a nozzle that can best do the work, with respect to angle and stream.

The smaller the opening, the higher the psi. The larger the opening, the opposite. Your stream pressure is going to be doing a lot of the work, but angle is also important as smaller angles provide for a more powerful stream.

Washing Distance

Taking efficacy of your stream into account, distance plays a role along with angle and stream. The closer you are to the surface you are washing, the higher the pressure and the heat of the water making contact.