Pressure washing is a relatively quick and effective way to clean a home. It boosts a property’s curb appeal and clears away mold, mildew, and dirt that can gradually eat away at the home’s structure. Unfortunately, too often the pressure washing process results in damage to shrubs and other plants around the home. If you want to protect your plants, even during a pressure wash, take the following precautions.

The Proper Mix

Pressure washing is not just a matter of spraying pressurized water at a building. The process also involves laying down a coat of cleaning solutions to eat away at grime and debris before rinsing it off. Some of these chemicals, especially bleach, can be harmful to the greenery surrounding your home. 

The trick is to find cleaning solutions that are environmentally friendly. There are many commercially-available detergents that fit such a description. It is also wise to dilute the cleaning solution down. Try a ratio of 10:1 water:detergent. You can also protect your plants by adding a neutralizing agent to your cocktail of cleaners. These balance out the chemicals used to clean. 

Unfortunately, sometimes bleach is necessary to kill harmful biological agents such as mold and other fungus. If you need to use bleach in your pressure wash, you can still help protect your plants by adding a surfactant to the mixture. These components improve the adherence of bleach on the building itself, minimizing runoff into your flowerbed. Because of this property, surfactants also reduce the amount of bleach required for a good clean.

Rinse and Repeat

Water is obviously a big part of the pressure washing process. While it may seem like a risk to add more into the bargain, believe it or not, rinsing both before and after a pressure wash is one of the most powerful ways to protect your plants during the process. 

You may be a bit incredulous at the suggestion to rinse your plants before pressure washing, but doing so will saturate your plants so they don’t absorb the chemically-treated water of the wash. Rinsing will also dilute the chemicals further before they interact with the plant itself. You can use something as simple as a garden hose to pre-soak your property’s plants. 

Rinsing after a pressure wash is also vital. Cleaning solutions left on your plants run the risk of chemically burning them, leaving brown patches. Runoff from bleach leaves salt behind that actually dehydrates plants by impeding their ability to soak up water. Rinsing residual salts away negates this problem.

Once the cleaning solutions used in a pressure wash dry, they generally become inert. That being said, if they are not allowed to dry—for example, if it rains within days of the wash—those chemicals will stay active longer, increasing the risk that they run off into your landscaping. Minimize the problem by diluting with a rinse. 

Take Cover

Covering plants has long been a go-to method of protecting plants during a house wash. However, there are risks to this process. Plants that remain covered for too long can suffocate as their carbon dioxide supply is cut off. They can also overheat as a result of the greenhouse effect that is produced under a tarp in the sun. Lastly, if you are not cautious, covering your plants with a tarp may cause chemical runoff to pool at their root systems. 

The way to protect your plants even when employing the use of tarps is to be quick and efficient with them. Cover only the sections of your flower beds that are in close proximity to the portion of the property being cleaned. As soon as the wash in that area is finished, remove the tarps to the next section. The process is tedious and time consuming, but it will give your plants a fighting chance. 

Redirect The Runoff

The water used in a pressure wash has to have somewhere to go. If you want to protect your plants from damage, the ideal destination for runoff is not among your shrubs. The best way to alter the course of chemically-rich runoff is to bag your downspouts. This removes the contaminated water from the picture entirely: once the process is finished, you can simply remove the bags and dispose of them. Alternatively, you can use a bucket to catch the unwanted water.

Trust Westchester Power Wash to Protect Your Plants

If you want to make sure all these methods to protect your plants are followed properly, the best way is to entrust the process to the professionals. As we pressure wash your property, we will apply all detergent layers from the ground up, creating a barrier to chemical run-off. In addition to providing your home with a sparkling clean, our experienced team will prioritize your plant preservation.

Pavement is a pretty common component of any property. It provides a safe place for people to walk in the area and generally makes a community more inviting. Unfortunately, dirty pavement is common because exterior cement is exposed to everything the elements have to offer. Soiled concrete can affect health, safety, curb appeal, and business if it is not taken care of in a timely and professional manner.

The Dangers of Soiled Concrete

Concrete is one of the first things customers and visitors notice when they approach a property. If your pavements don’t look clean, they can seriously hurt your curb appeal in a number of ways. Dirty pavements can lead your guests or potential customers to think that the rest of the property is in ill repair as well, causing you to lose business or potential tenants.

Unsightly concrete can also hurt the moral and work quality of your employees. It has been proven that people work better in places where they feel the working environment is good. Clean pavements directly affect employee morale for the better. 

Even if you don’t own a business, your pavements are speaking for you. Dirty pavements are unsafe in a number of ways, leading to mold growth and perpetuating the presence of other allergens. These can make breathing unsafe and make concrete slippery to walk on. 

Dirty concrete is more susceptible to both staining and other deterioration, including water damage and cracking. Contaminants spread across the pavement’s surface, working their way into the pores and prying them open further. Soiled and stained pavements are significantly more likely to crack or chip.

In this way, dirty pavements can lower the value of the whole property. On the other hand, cleaning your concrete regularly is a great way to extend its lifespan, so making cleaning your pavement a priority is actually the more cost-effective option since you save the expense and inconvenience of repairs.

How Do You Clean Pavement With a Hose?

One way to clean dirty pavements is with a common garden hose. All you need is a bucket with a cleaning agent like baking soda or quality liquid detergent and some warm water. You can mix these together well and apply them to your dirty concrete with a scrub brush and some elbow grease, rinsing the concoction off with the hose.

This method is initially appealing because most people have all the necessary tools already at hand. However, cleaning pavement by hand is both time- and energy-consuming. It is also not the most effective method. To really give your pavements a thorough clean, pressure washing is the way to go.

Pressure Washing Dirty Concrete

If your pavement is simply a little dusty, cleaning with household cleaners and a hose may be enough. On the other hand, the power behind a professional pressure wash provides more thorough and lasting results for pavements. Some contamination cannot be seen clearly until the surface is cleaned, so you may not even know just how dirty your pavement is until it is washed. 

Pressure washing, when performed properly, is a powerful way to clear away dirt, debris, stains, algae, and mold without damaging the concrete itself. The way it can wash a slate clean is almost magical, tackling even the most stubborn stains. Dirty pavements are no match for a pressure washing machine in the right hands.

Can Pressure Washing Damage Dirty Pavement?

Often people’s biggest concern about pressure washing is that it will damage their property. This is a valid concern. The wrong pressure settings or nozzle can chip away at delicate components like roofing tiles and siding and even more hardy materials like concrete. In inexperienced hands, the risk of damaging your property irreversibly with a pressure washer is ever-present. 

That risk is compounded if damage to the concrete is already present. Applying pressure to cracked concrete is a sure way to exacerbate the problem, propagating cracking or chipping. Before you or a professional team begins the cleaning process, cracks should be addressed and repaired. A professional can also help you identify areas that need attention beforehand to minimize damage.

Professional Pavement Cleaning Services

When you let a professional manage your pavement cleaning, you can be sure that the risk of damage is neutralized. An experienced team knows precisely which pressure settings, nozzles, and cleaning solutions to guarantee powerful cleaning results for the concrete on your property. These will last longer than other cleaning treatments, ensuring that your pavements look brighter and cleaner for longer.

Graffiti refers to any drawings or writing applied to public surfaces, usually with spray paint. Commonly the result of vandalism, graffiti is unsightly and significantly hurts curb appeal. Even worse, the application of spray paint can seriously damage some surfaces like brick and stucco. Removing graffiti has its own set of challenges, but it has to be done (and done well) if you want to restore your property to its original glory. 

How to Get Rid of Graffiti

Removing graffiti requires an impressive amount of finesse. An inexperienced hand will leave bits of paint or a “shadow” of where the graffiti used to be. Without experience to temper pressure settings, DIY attempts to clean away graffiti can also damage the material underneath, leaving scoring or causing it to chip. Entrusting the task to the professionals is the best way to make sure the graffiti is removed completely and satisfactorily.

Removing graffiti is usually a two-part process, applying the right blend of chemicals to wear down the spray paint and then rinsing the surface clean with a good pressure or power wash. A professional pressure washing team will know which solutions and methods are best for your specific situation. 

The Correct Chemicals

While sometimes it is possible to use pressure washing alone to remove graffiti—especially if the paint hasn’t had long to sink into the surface—usually treating the stain with chemicals is the most important step. The right cocktail of chemicals is effective at removing graffiti for one of two reasons: either it will wear down the paint’s color or, even better, it will destroy the glue within the paint. 

If you don’t want to damage your painted surface further, it is vital that you use the right chemical solution to clean away graffiti. This often includes trisodium phosphate (TSP), but the mixture should reflect the kind of surface being cleaned and how long the paint has been there. How the cleaners are applied is also important since you don’t want to drive the chemicals into the surface.

It is common to apply the chemical cleaning solution with a pressure washer on a low setting: 80 psi is a safe choice. This will coat the surface of the spray paint with the chemicals without forcing the cleaners into the material’s pores. Once the mixture has had a little time to work on the graffiti, it can be rinsed off with a higher pressure. 

Removing Graffiti with Pressure Washing

A pressure washer will be your best friend when removing graffiti. In some cases, it is all that is needed to strip away the unwanted art. In others, pressure washers can be used to apply chemicals and to rinse them and the paint away. Sometimes, however, you need a little more power to clean away graffiti. Sometimes this can be achieved by using a turbo nozzle, which focuses a pressure washer’s spray even more. In other instances, you will need to add heat.

Heat is the biggest difference between pressure washing and power washing. Power washers incorporate a heating element, allowing them to utilize rinsing power 100-times that of cold water. Hot water gives home- and business owners 100% success in removing graffiti 98% of the time. We recommend using hot water at low pressure to layer the chemicals onto the spray paint’s surface, then rinsing at higher pressures to completely erase the stain. 

Is It Possible to Power Wash Graffiti Off of Brick?

Getting graffiti off of brick can be troublesome for a number of reasons. Because brick is so obviously porous, the wrong pressure can chip pieces of it off or embed the spray paint further into the material. Use gentler chemicals and pressure settings to apply them. Consult with your local pressure washing company for recommendations or let them manage the job for best results. 

Will Pressure Washing Remove Spray Paint from Metal Surfaces? 

If you discover graffiti on your vehicle, it can be tempting to reach for the pressure washer. We recommend you pause and consider professional assistance. Metal, especially when it is used to shape vehicles, doesn’t always hold up well under a stream of pressurized water. While a pressure washer can usually strip away spray paint from metal, the results aren’t always improved. 

The success of pressure washing metal depends very much on the type of nozzle used, how the paint was applied, and how long it has been there. Interestingly enough, unlike other surfaces, paint added more recently can be more difficult to remove from metal surfaces. Get a professional opinion before moving forward.