So I Finally Got Around To Cleaning The Driveway

Pressure washing.  I hate it.  We all know why.  I've written about this song and dance before.  However, in the 24 years we've been at this house the concrete driveway has only been cleaned once.  Back then acid was put down on the concrete, and then the dirt/gunk/grime was moved out to the drain by the pressure washer gun.  So the concrete never had a surface cleaner go to town on it.

Since I've worked in apartment maintenance I was shown how to use a pressure washer engine with a surface cleaner.  It looks like a giant vacuum for concrete.  But instead of sucking up things, it sprays water at a high pressure cleaning the concrete.  It's much faster, more efficient, and looks better than just using a pressure washer gun.

Back in November I said I would give a present that the whole family could benefit from.  So I volunteered to clean the driveway.  So why I am so late in doing so?  Well, the first plan was to buy a surface cleaner to go with the Simpson pressure washer we already own. 

However, it didn't make a lot of sense to buy a cheap one that was too small for the job.  We also didn't want to spend $350 on the big one that we would use once per decade.  I even tried looking at pawn shops, they were still costly for someone like me who wouldn't use one that often.

So I checked in with Home Depot's webpage, and it seemed they had plenty of surface cleaners to rent.  So I rented one for $31 plus tax for the day.  I did have to buy a converter for the water hose, but it's still much cheaper than buying a whole unit.

The pressure washing/surface cleaning isn't what takes the most time.  It's all the other stuff.  I was up at 7 AM, and renting from Home Depot before 9 AM.  By the time I made it back home I had to move hoses, get equipment out, mix cleaning chemicals, move vehicles, and move anything else that was on the driveway.  So that ate up a lot of time.

The driveway wasn't the only thing I cleaned.  I also cleaned outside the side door, around the A/C units, an outdoor tile area, and the back porch.  So you can see just how many areas I had to clean.

Here's the before photo of the concrete:

It's hard to tell what's a shadow and what part is dirt buildup so I took a "in the middle of cleaning" photo.

My only wish, is that, I had a stronger horsepower engine.  The ones I used at the apartment complexes were around 6000 PSI.  Our unit is 3100 PSI.  So it made cleaning much slower.  I didn't have any acid to put down, but I mixed up a robust mixture of Tide and Clorox.  It helps break up the grime.

Everyone was in a hurry to move their vehicles back so I wasn't able to take a good "after" photo.  That, and it was already late into the evening.

As you can tell from my shadow the sun was starting to angle over the west.  I quickly put everything back, and drove over to Home Depot to return the surface cleaner.  By the time I made it back home it was almost 6 PM.  I had been on the move for almost 11 hours. 

I know some folks call that a normal work day.  However, I only stopped for lunch and barely took any breaks.  I know I should have drank more water.  Here it is the next day, and my skin is extremely dried out.

But I'm glad the driveway is taken care of.  I guess I can call this the start of Spring cleaning?  Maybe I won't wait another decade before I clean it again.  But if I do, I'm sure going to use concrete acid.  There's no sense in working harder than I should.