Meet Joe.
Joe is short for Sun Joe SPX3001, which just happens to be my new power washer.
I really didn’t think we needed a power washer. The brick pavers looked a bit dingy, but they’d been washed a couple of years ago when the house was painted, so they should still be good, right?
Wrong.
But then we had an issue with ants and the lady from Orkin said “clean your gutters”, and I knew that could be done with a power washer too. Killing two birds with one stone is like my favorite thing in the world, so off I went to research RENTING a power washer.
Turns out, renting it twice is about the same as buying one. So off to Amazon I went, and ended up with this awesome neon green machine. It arrived two days later (thanks Prime!) and let me tell you, this thing was NOT small. Not small at all. My husband just gave me that look. And it sat in the foyer until the weekend, when I had a go at the brick pavers.
Here’s what I discovered: My pavers were REALLY dirty. Here’s the before…and this is the worst section.
And after:
I know what you’re thinking…that still looks dirty. It was. Pro tip: blow off the entire area with a blower before trying to power wash. Pro tip 2: realize that if you haven’t done this in years, it will take more than one pass. That “after” picture still has a lot of loose dirt sitting on it. So I had to do it twice before it started to look good.
Here’s what it looked like – same section but from a different angle – after I had washed it twice.
It’s a different angle but the same section. The spots you see are just wet; the whole problem in this area is that not all of it gets sun, so it’s often damp.
Joe worked wonders on my concrete block edging too. Check out the difference between the two blocks already done (bottom of photo), and the ones that still remained:
I’m pretty happy. I still need to do those gutters, too, but it’s been so hot I haven’t wanted to. I managed to get the ladder out to the back porch…that’s progress right?
I also bought this, because you can use this baby to wash your car too:
This auto wash comes in three scents. I went with pineapple since it’s so fruity and tropical. Nah, not really. I went with it because it was cheaper than the other two. Go figure.
By the way, you may not want to pressure wash your pavers if you aren’t planning to redo the sand between them. I didn’t know that ahead of time, and the pressure washer blew out some of the dirt between each brick. However, it needed to be replaced anyway, so now I’m trying to decide if that will be another DIY project or something I hire out. I’m also trying to decide between polymeric sand and regular sand with a sealant. Or just regular sand by itself as a temporary measure.
A decision for another day.
I love you, Joe.
UPDATE: Two years later I can say we still use this machine pretty regularly. My youngest daughter isn’t old enough for a job, but likes to do extra tasks around the house for cash, so she has become the expert.
I do not use it to wash cars anymore. Taking care of the Indian River Lagoon is important where we live, and the runoff from people washing cars is part of the problem. (Not a huge part, but every little bit helps.) I now wash my car at a nearby do-it-yourself car wash facility, because they are required to recycle their water, so the chemicals don’t become runoff.
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