Who knew washing a fence could be so satisfying?
If you’ve ever power washed a dingy slab of concrete, you know how satisfying it is to watch the transformation take place right before your eyes. Maybe you’ve seen a few other areas that need a good cleaning around the yard or even the outside of the house. Once you get the power washing bug, everything looks in need of a good cleaning.
The good news is that you can power wash—or pressure wash, depending on how sturdy the surface is—many materials like vinyl siding, fencing, decks, patios, driveways, and more. These power washing before and after photos will inspire you to get spraying this weekend.
The difference that pressure washing made on this driveway is night and day. Normal wear and tear, as well as the fallout from trees overhead, had the concrete looking more like asphalt. Power washing your driveway is an easy and satisfying way to make that old slab look new again without the cost to resurface the concrete. For an extra-deep clean without using acids or chemicals harmful to your lawn or nearby plants, you can use a cleaning solution that’s designed for pressure washing concrete.
Mildew and greenish moss grew on this siding where it’s cool, shady, and damp. But a pass with the pressure washer has the siding looking like it was recently installed. That’s right, you can pressure wash siding. But it’s important to be careful not to damage the siding by using too much pressure too close to the siding. In a lot of cases, the cost to wash your house professionally is worth it.
Fences often produce the most dramatic before and after results. Other than concrete or some really dirty siding, unstained wood fences change from a weathered gray to looking like freshly milled cedar that’s just been installed.
As a note of caution, sometimes the wood can get tattered a bit if the pressure washer is held too closely to a fence made of softer woods like cedar or pine. So it’s important to maintain a distance of 12 to 18 inches from your target. If you’ve got a lot of fence to clean, it might be worth looking into the cost to pressure wash a fence and save yourself a lot of time.
As you can see in this work-in-progress photo, the transformation after you pressure wash your deck can also be pretty spectacular, especially if your deck gets a bit of shade and has gathered some mildew or even moss. This deck will look like new when the job is done.
Considering the potential to walk around on the deck with bare feet, this is another situation to handle the pressure washer carefully so as to avoid creating rough areas and potential sliver zones. Try scrubbing the deck with a cleaner and a stiff brush or push broom to loosen dirt and debris, so getting it clean requires lower PSI and less work from the pressure washer.
Although it can be a bit messier to power wash your patio when it comes to pavers, the end result looks like you just had it installed. The pavers in this photo demonstrate how pressure washing can let the original beauty of the material shine again once the layer of dirt and grime is stripped away.
Just like a deck or a driveway, paver patios can get pretty dirty from use and weather. Then you have the ants that really enjoy carrying the sand base from underneath the pavers and piling it on top of the patio. Another benefit is that you’re getting two jobs done at once by cleaning your pavers as well as blasting any weeds that may have grown in the joints. Bonus!
Let’s face it, garage floors can get gross. Even though it’s not out in the elements, the elements and then some get carried inside on our vehicles, as you can see in this photo. Road grime, oil and grease, and even spilled drinks inevitably end up on the garage floor.
Although clearing everything out of your garage to clean the floor can be a hassle, it’s worth that sparkly new garage floor when you get done with the pressure washer. If you have particularly stubborn grease or oil stains, you may want to consider calling a local power washing company to use the professional-grade cleaners and hot-water equipment they’re more likely to have at their disposal.
Maybe it’s not the first thing you think of pressure washing, but as you can see from this job photo, you can indeed pressure wash a roof, whether it’s shingles, shakes, or tiles—as long as you do it right. The pro doing this job started at the peak of the roof and worked downward, making the shingles look years newer.
As you might expect, it’s important to take great care when pressure washing a roof, as any damage can cause leaks and major problems inside the house. But the roof can get dirty and grow mildew and moss, especially if you have tree branches that hang over the house. Branches create shady areas that may not totally dry out, and they may drop sap and other material that can feed mildew and moss. Of course, getting up on your roof to pressure wash can be quite dangerous, so it’s definitely a good idea to call a professional for this job, especially if your roof is steep. Done properly, pressure washing your roof can extend the life of the shingles or other roofing material.
