Hot take: The difference between a good pressure wash and a great one is the pre-soak, not the machine.

For years I just blasted straight onto dirty concrete. Took forever. Left streaks. A guy in my crew, Mike, started mixing a simple degreaser with water in a garden sprayer. He'd soak the area for ten minutes first. The next job, a greasy garage floor in Phoenix, his side was done in half the time. Mine looked patchy. It's not about the fancy wand, it's about letting the chemicals work. Anyone else have a simple step that changed their whole routine?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole3562d ago

Nah, man, gotta disagree. A bigger machine is a total game changer. Like @jenkins.reese said, there's a sweet spot, but once you go past it you just fly through jobs. Why wait ten minutes for a soak when you can just power through the grime right away?

cameronjenkins3d ago

Mike's pre-soak trick is fine for greasy spots, but it's a waste of time on most jobs. My old 2.5 GPM machine was useless no matter what I sprayed on the surface. Upgraded to a 4 GPM unit with a turbo nozzle and it cuts through everything, even dried mud and algae, in one pass. The right pressure and flow make the chemicals almost an afterthought. A stronger machine lets you work faster and skip the extra steps.

jenkins.reese3d ago

My uncle ran a cleaning crew for years and he always said 3.5 GPM was the sweet spot for residential work. He tried the turbo nozzle thing but found it chewed up softer wood decks if you weren't super careful. I guess it depends on what you're washing most of the time. There's definitely a point where more power just saves you time on the tougher jobs.