We got a new toy in our home, a new electric pressure washer
Why a pressure Washer?
What home isn’t complete without a pressure washer?
Today we went to our favorite home improvement store to look at pressure washers. I felt like it was a great time of year to buy one of these and of course, they were having a sale! The idea behind the pressure washer is to forcibly apply pressurized water to a surface in order to clean or renew the material. This is especially effective on patios, walls, and driveways, all of which we have.
What to wash first?
As soon as we got home, like any man does, I immediately rip open the box and attempt to assembly the system without reading the instructions. Several moments later I had a working electric pressure washing machine. Now I need something to wash…. I immediately started spraying the driveway, then on to the garage door, and eventually the front exterior stairs. To my amazement, our front concrete entrance is not dark brownish-green. The pressure washer began to reveal what looked like a bright gray slightly-aged concrete finish. This led me to prod further and clean the entire area. I didn’t have enough foresight to take a before picture, but I took the picture below right before I finished. You can see a stripe below the bottom step which shows what the pressure washer can do. Cleaning this entire area took about 30 minutes, and would be easy enough to do every year. I hope I can see the same type of results from other areas of the house.
Product Review
I decided to go with an electric model as opposed to a gasoline engine for a couple of reasons. The gas engine can be very loud when operating and while it does provide more pressure, it requires fueling and ventilation for proper operation. The electric model has a 35-foot cord and plugs into a standard outlet allowing me to wash from just about anywhere. The noise level on this particular model is very low and only emits a sound when water is being pumped. A traditional gas model runs all the time. The particular model I purchased was the highest pressure and water flow I could get at my local store. It is the GreenWorks GPW2000 which boasts a 2,000psi motor that pumps out 1.2 gallons of water per minute. So far, I’ve only used this model for about an hour or two, but everything is great. I’ll continue to update as I use it more. The only downsides are hose locations for both the input and outputs. I feel like they could be better located for easy connecting and storage.
What should I wash next?
My next pressure washer project will probably be our back patio and rear of house. I’m sure I’ll find a lot of other things to wash down before winter. What else can I use this thing for besides the obvious?