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Pressure Washing Service around Portland Oregon

Reminder of Purpose of Driveways, Walkways and Sidewalks

1. To provide smooth surface from your car and sidewalk to and from the house without causing you to fall.
2. To provide a clean path to minimize tracking dirt into the house and car. This keeps your carpets and rugs cleaner and makes them last longer between cleanings.
3. To be a low maintenance durable surface. (grass and wooden planks don't hold up)
4. To look good to you, for the house, neighborhood and maximize your home's market value if you decide to sell.

These brick steps were pressure washed to help the elderly lady that lives here keep from slipping on them.

Financial Reasons to Pressure Wash Driveways, Walkways and Sidewalks

1. Prevent a Slip or Fall - They may be dangerously slippery from accumulated dirt, algae, mildew and moss. Prevention is cheaper especially for older friends and family who may fall on concrete and quite possible break one or more bones.
2. Limit Liablity - Unfortunately, limiting liability is the biggest reason people get their driveways and sidewalks cleaned. While the sidewalk is owned by the city, it is the responsibility in Portland Oregon for homeowners to maintain the concrete sidewalk. If a person trips on the sidewalk in front of your house and the sidewalk was not safe, then they may sue you to recover expenses etc. Home owners insurance may or may not cover this. It's cheaper to clean and make necessary repairs to the sidewalk. Many homeowners are not aware of this law that is in the Portland City Charter.
3. Home resale value - If you are selling your home or getting it refinanced, then you probably know the importance of curb appeal. It's less expensive to pressure wash the driveway and sidewalks to make the home more attractive than paying for more advertising on it taking longer for your home to sell.
4. Preparation for Repairs - Pressure washing the walkways especially reveals trip/fall hazards like concrete that has been buckled by tree roots and settling of soil. It removes moss, grass and weeds that are covering up and/or filling or creating more cracks. It's less expensive to address these walking hazards than pay for them through medical bills. New concrete repairs don't adhere at all to dirt.
5. Surface Preparation for Sealing - Pressure washing prepares the driveways and walkways for sealing the concrete. Sealing dirty concrete is almost a total waste of money. It doesn't last.

Water from the hill above weeps through this concrete wall. This is why so much algae is growing on it.

Aesthetic Reasons to Pressure Wash Driveways, Walkways, Walls and Sidewalks

1. Clean walking surfaces are more pleasant to walk on.
2. Peace of mind - Pressure washing removes mildew and algae and improves the walkability of driveways, walkways and side-walks. Since it looks cleaner, it isn't something you think about and worry about as you walk on it.
3. Brightening - Aesthetically, pressure washing is very effective at cleaning concrete, brightening it and making the home look more cheerful. Besides safety, this is probably the biggest reason. So many people see it afterwards and wish they had done it sooner.

Reasons to Not Pressure Wash Driveways, Walkways and Sidewalks

1. If you have an asphalt driveway, it should not be pressure washed. Pressure washing asphalts busts it up and ruins any flat surface that it has left. This allows moss to grow very quickly because the rough surface holds dirt and moisture.
2. Too far gone - The concrete is so far deteriorated that you are going to replace it in the near future.
3. You don't have money to budget for it. There are of course more important things to budget money for if there isn't enough to maintain the concrete.
4. Timing - You don't have enough money to seal the concrete yet and are going to be cleaning the concrete just before you have it sealed.
5. Stained too much - If renters have spilled paint, gasoline, oil etc onto the driveway and it's not slippery enough to pose a hazard yet, you many not want to wash it.

How to Lengthen the Time Between Pressure washing Services

In Portland, Oregon we get so much rain and have so many cloudy days that its easy for the concrete driveways, sidewalks and walkways to get dirty again. Here are some tips to keeping them cleaner for longer.

1. Improve drainage - Keep a gutter (good drainage area of 3 inches or more) around the concrete so that water and fine debris can flow off the concrete
2. Keep clean - Sweep or blow off debris from the concrete especially before rain
3. Maintain drainage - Keep the drainage channels (grooves in driveway) open at the edge of the driveway
4. Don't add water - Avoid funneling unnecessary water onto the concrete (drain water from gutter downspout onto something else than your driveway)
5. Use lower pressure when cleaning - Pressure wash concrete with a lower PSI setting to avoid removing unnecessary amounts of concrete from unsealed and unhardened surfaces. This removes less concrete from the surface and makes it less porous than high-pressure washing otherwise would.

Things that Damage Concrete

1. Applying rock salt. Arrggghhh. It devastates concrete, attacking the cement and eye-sore pits.
2. Letting moss grow on it. Moss holds water that erodes the cement.
3. Allowing downspout outlets to pour rain water over the surface
4. Allowing water to puddle on the concrete - poor drainage
5. Letting the surrounding dirt and debris accumulate on the surface.
6. Letting piles of barkdust sit on the top (especially during rain) without using a tarp to protect concrete
7. Frequent pressure washing at high pressure without sealing or hardening the concrete

   Brad Lewis did an outstanding job in removing moss all over the concrete and stone wall around my house and on my roof. He was polite, responsible and took pride in his work. He is also quite knowledgeable about all the varieties of moss and the best way of treating them. I definitely recommend his services.
   - Peggy S. of SE Portland