Clean and Safe Pathways

Print This

As the old saw goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression and your walkways and driveways are the first thing visitors see when coming to your home. All day long the paths that lead to your house are exposed to dirt, mold, and mildew. Trees drop their sap on them. Cars drip oil and drop rust. This not only makes for a dubious introduction to your home but could also damage your pathways (causing holes and widening cracks), create slippery areas that are hard to safely walk through, and leave assorted crud for people to track into your clean home. If left unattended, your pathways lose their luster and sometimes even get severely discolored.

Luckily with regular cleaning you can provide a safe environment for your kids to play in and your visitors to walk through while maintaining the curb appeal and value of your home. Pressure washing is an easy and affordable way to do it. It is very effective at digging the dirt out of porous concrete and brick and scrubbing clean asphalt surfaces. There are different sizes and types of heads, depending on your pathway’s circumstances, that can help do the job more quickly and effectively. You can use cleaners for tougher stains or pathways that are in particularly bad shape. Also, there are concrete cleaners and degreasers that work well especially if you pretreat problem areas. If there is concern that these chemicals may harm the plants surrounding the pathways, consider using oxygen bleach, which is a safe alternative.

Care must be taken to avoid creating streaks and stripes and to prevent damage to neighboring landscape. Also, it’s important to use the correct pressure so that the top level of the surface being cleaned isn’t removed or grooves dug into brick surfaces. All of these pitfalls can be easily avoided and a pressure washing contractor can help you make sure it’s done properly.

While any time of year is fine to clean your pathways, if you are pressure washing as a part of a larger landscaping project, consider when you want to do it in the order of your tasks. If only planting a few new plants or completing something else that doesn’t track a lot of dirt, it would be helpful to pressure wash first. If laying bark dust or working with other materials that may track dirt on your walkways and pathways, it may be better to wait until those projects are finished before cleaning the area.