Uses for a pressure washer around your home
Peter Sitkowski | 2nd May 2023 | 7 Minutes to read
For many homeowners, pressure washing has become a fundamental part of maintaining the cleanliness of their outdoor spaces, as well as a great way to speed up car cleaning, but many people don’t know how to get the best use out of them.
Despite pressure washers often being an expensive piece of kit, they’re usually purchased as a solution to one problem — like a dirty driveway or deck — and once that’s solved, they get tossed into a shed to only see the light of day when the moss grows back.
To stop your power washer suffering the same fate, we’re going to look at some of the best uses for your unit and give you an idea of how much better your home can look with consistent pressure washing.
Check out all the different ways you can use your pressure washer to make your home look brand new:
Cleaning Your Driveway
One of the most common reasons people pick up a pressure washer is to clean their driveway. High pressure cleaning is one of the best ways to remove moss and mildew build up and even strip small plants out from the cracks of your driveway to keep it looking tip top.
Washing Your Car, Ute, or 4x4
Another obvious reason to get a pressure washer is to speed up the process of cleaning your car. While the higher-pressure nozzles can be a little aggressive for car cleaning, keeping your pressure washer’s PSI down to 1,500 or below allows for a quality clean that will still deal with particularly grimy surfaces.
If you’re somebody who loves to take their ute or 4x4 out on muddy adventures that leave it caked in dirt and clog your tyres with sand and soil, then a pressure washer with a foaming soap gun is a great investment.
Washing the Walls of Your House
Getting your home professionally cleaned can be incredibly expensive and doing it with a hose and other conventional cleaning equipment is time-consuming and exhausting.
A pressure washer is a great way to make short work of cleaning mildew and stains off the façade of your home as the powerful jet of water is far better at removing ingrained grime than standard cleaning methods — it’s also a great way to prep your house’s walls for painting.
The distance you can reach with the water also means that you can avoid using ladders and scaffolding to do the work, making power cleaning a safer alternative.
Something to keep in mind is that you’ll want to make sure you are using the correct nozzle and PSI settings when cleaning the walls of your home. Higher 0° and 15° nozzles are great for brick and concrete but are too high pressure for cleaning wood. For this, you’ll want to use the lower pressure 40° white nozzle and soap dispensing black nozzle instead, relying on a scrubbing brush accessory to clean particularly dirty sections.
Avoid cleaning windows with anything but the absolute lowest settings as well, otherwise you’ll risk damaging seals and the glass itself. For a safer way to clean delicate surfaces like your roof and windows, you might consider using your pressure washer to perform a soft wash instead.
Soft Washing Your Roof
Despite their name, pressure and power washers aren’t just used for cleaning with extreme force, they’re versatile machines that can handle more delicate jobs as well.
A soft wash is a special kind of washing technique that uses a blend of chemicals to slowly kill moss, bacteria, and mildew that clings to your roof and other surfaces. The reason you want to soft wash a roof instead of pressure wash it is that pressure washing can remove shingles and cause damage where metal sheeting overlaps.
Even though a soft wash uses lower pressures of around 500 PSI, it is still much more effective than a standard garden hose. It can produce a jet of water that is powerful enough to clean the roof from ground level and certains pressure washers allows you to mix your chemicals into the water, allowing for even coverage in far less time than other application methods.
Sprucing Up Sidewalks
Much like your driveway, cleaning the sidewalks outside of your home is a great use for the power of a pressure washer. Strip away gum from the neighbourhood kids, ‘presents’ from local dogs, and remove rooted plants and moss from the concrete to give your home better curb appeal and a cleaner look.
Washing Garage or Workshop Floor
With all the dirt and dust build up that can occur when working in a garage, it’s not a job that’s easily handled with a mop and broom. Pressure washers are great at cleaning tough surfaces and with soap dispensers built into the units, and power washers that have a heated element, you can make quick work of grease and oil that would otherwise be a challenge to deal with.
Be sure that if you’re doing any inside cleaning, you’re using an electric pressure washer, as the fumes from a petrol pressure washer can be dangerous in unventilated areas.
Power Washing Your Decking
While you want to be careful when cleaning wood with a pressure washer, as you can splinter the surface or loosen joinings if you use too much pressure, a light wash with a lower-pressure nozzle can be an easy way to keep your decking looking brand new.
Wooden decks love to accumulate things like moss, soil, and even caked on mud after a storm, so having a higher-pressure option than a standard hose pipe is a big help in keeping your outside space clean.
Pressure washer brands like Karcher also offer deck cleaning kits that will come with brushes, nozzles, and cleaning products specifically designed for wood cleaning that can help with the process.
Pressure Washing a Fence
In the same vein, fences and gates can get weathered quickly if they’re not looked after, so giving them a hosing down with a pressure washer every so often can help to increase their lifespan.
Give your fence a quick once over every so often with a 25° nozzle from a distance to remove any loose soil, and if you’re looking to apply a fresh coat of paint, then a pressure washer can be a great way to remove any splintered wood or chipped paint before application.
Pressure Clean Your Car's Engine
If you’re more experienced with pressure washing and have a good understanding of your car’s engine, using a pressure washer to clean your car’s engine can be a nice time-save, especially if you’re already washing your car and want to give it the full treatment.
Most modern engines are totally fine with being sprayed with water, though you’ll likely want to cover your alternator and any aftermarket wiring in plastic and avoid getting your drive belt wet. Other things to watch out for are exposed air filters, which can let water into the engine if they get wet, which could lead to serious damage.
Always make sure your engine is turned off and isn’t hot. Washing hot components and materials can cause damage and you run the risk of burning yourself while working, so always wash your engine when it’s cold.
You’ll also want to use the white or black nozzle on your pressure washer so you’re not blasting your engine, and for any tough dirt or oil spots, just used a brush attachment to clean it carefully instead of going full power and breaking something.
Power Washing a Boat or Trailer
Boats and trailers not only get dirty, but often require special treatment because of the saltiness of sea water, which can be extremely corrosive. Consistent washing is a great way to prevent this and using a foam cannon attachment will let you cut through algae and other grime with ease; this is a great way to prep for anti-corrosion sprays and other protective coatings as well.
Find the Right Pressure Washer for You
As long as you’re careful and are aware of the different nozzles and functions of pressure washers and power washers, they’re a fantastic way to speed up jobs around your home and workplace.
Repco stocks a number of different pressure washing units as well as accessories like brushes and hoses and loads of soaps and detergents for car care and other purposes, so we’ve got you covered when you decide to forgo the garden hose and get serious about cleaning.
