Advice for the Cheapskate Homeowner: How to Wash Your Driveway

Here in the land of palm trees, summer afternoon gushers, and high humidity, our driveways tend to get gray with mold and mildew.

When it gets yucky enough, our kindly homeowners association sends love letters letting us know it’s time to pressure wash our driveways.

Once, I did it myself by borrowing my neighbor’s very loud pressure-washing machine. Several hours, lots of sore muscles, and a temporary case of deafness later, I realized it was way too much work and that I had etched lines into my driveway. Yep. If you make the spray too concentrated, you can permanently tattoo your driveway

Next time, I hired a professional firm. They charged $70 and finished the job in less than half an hour. No lines this time. Instead, the entire driveway was gritty with cement sand! Too many of those applications and guess what could happen? No more driveway?

So I found a way to do it cheap-o by using bleach. Ordinary household bleach. The grocery store sells ‘special’ bleach for pressure washing, but it’s no stronger than the ordinary kind. You’ll also need a spray bottle to attach to your garden hose. You can easily find one of these at your local home improvement store for about ten bucks. The bottle is ordinarily used for applying garden fertilizer but works just as well for pressure washing your driveway ... without the pressure.

Fill bleach to the top and set the dilution rate toward the high end. Start at the apron of your driveway and work your way back. Wear clothes you don’t mind getting splotched with whitening because you will get some bleach on you, no matter how careful you are. Since  the bottle is on the small side, you’ll get about 3 refills from one large bottle of bleach, which is should be enough for applying to an average driveway and sidewalks.

If you treat your driveway once or twice a year, it’ll make for a quick job and prevent those nasty HOA love letters.

So go save money, time, muscle aches, and most importantly your driveway by washing it with bleach! No pressure, no deafening decibels, no grit, and no worry.

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JUDY CHAPMAN | “Your House ... Your Future ... My Job”

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