When doing sidewalks, patios, driveways do you prefer to pressure wash or soft wash the areas?
We pretreat all flat surface work and then use low pressure to wash brick and deteriorating surfaces, usually close to 600 psi.
Intact concrete surfaces get the 3,000 plus psi.
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Pressure for concrete etc.
Pressure on Flat work… Pavers and loose stones get a heavy dose of SH and a Softwash Rinse
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Yep to that.
You need pressure to really clean concrete. Anyone who tells you different is probably trying to sell you an expensive 12v pump system to spray strong bleach on it and call it “clean”. Soft washing can bleach concrete with a lot of biological growth on it, but it’s not removing anything.
Pressure on concrete and other hard surfaces here, too. I did a test with heavy bleach once and it looked like it was clean… then I fired up my pressure washer and surface cleaner next to the test spot with chemical only and it was a huggge difference. People are kidding themselves in they think chemical is sufficient on concrete.
But soft washing would work on tile roofs? Eventhough it is a hard surface?
What I do, I have a 8gpm 1800psi machine…I throw down strong SH on concrete, then hit it with the wand or SC then finish it off with another light coat of SH and leave it.
Pretty much the same with brick.
Yes. Typically you’re only dealing with biological staining not dirt and grime.
I’ve never actually done a tile roof, so I can’t say on that one, I can only speak from tests I’ve done on actual concrete, pavers, etc…
I was wondering about that with the “nuking” method of concrete cleaning. It’s literally just “bleaching” the surface, making it appear clean, when in reality the porous concrete needs the pressure to actually do the cleaning, correct?
I should have read the entire thread before I posted 
the first roof we ever did was a 4000 sqft home with a tile roof. I think I called Thad 27 times in the first few hours we were there (job was windows, gutter cleaning, and a roof wash). Barrel tile can be softwashed and does not need to be pressure washed. You just have to go about the job a bit differently. The tile roofs take longer and use more mix because there are essentially 4 surfaces to the tile, as opposed to one surface when cleaning an asphalt shingle roof. I love tile roofs because in our area it means you know it’s a nice home and usually alot of room for upsells and referrals.
It was only 23 times, Dave.
:-p
concrete or any hard surface the way to go is with a surface cleaner. Apply your chem’s first if you wish.
Concrete driveways etc… definitely high pressure all the way, turbo for more intricate areas and then colour in the big areas with the surface cleaner :thumbup:
Brickwork, facing stone or anything you’re unsure of the integrity of then use detergent and low pressure. Better to start low and slow than to pay for a repair!
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Sweet! This totally helps me a lot narrowing down pressure washing company… Cheers….
www.kellysandblasting.com
