Alright, let me tell you about my little adventure with one of those water pressure cleaning machines the other day. My driveway and the path around the side of the house were looking seriously grubby. Like, years of green stuff and dirt just baked on. Tried scrubbing a bit last year, that was a joke, barely made a dent.

So, I decided it was time for some power. Didn't own one, so I borrowed one from my neighbour. He showed me the basics, which was nice of him. It looked simple enough, big yellow thing with wheels, a long hose, and this wand thingy.

Getting Started

First thing was dragging it out to the front. Plugged in the main power cord, felt a bit weird mixing electricity and loads of water, but hey ho. Then connected up my garden hose to the machine's inlet. Double-checked the tap was fully on. My neighbour stressed that – always have water flowing before you power it up.

Then came picking the right nozzle. It had a few different coloured ones. I just went for a general-purpose looking one, didn't want to accidentally carve my name into the concrete or anything first go. Put on some old work boots and glasses, figured that was sensible.

The Cleaning Blast

Okay, moment of truth. Switched the power on. Machine hummed to life. Grabbed the wand, pointed it at a really dirty slab, and squeezed the trigger. Whoa! That thing kicked back a bit, surprised me. And the noise! Pretty loud buzz.

But man, the result! It was like magic. A perfect, clean semi-circle appeared where I'd aimed. The difference was just stark. Black grime one side, clean concrete the other. It was actually pretty satisfying, I got into a rhythm, sweeping the wand back and forth, overlapping the strokes a bit like painting, but with water.

• Started with the main driveway slabs.
• Moved onto the brick path beside the house.
• Even gave the plastic wheelie bins a quick blast.

It wasn't all smooth sailing though. Holding that wand gets tiring after a while, my arm started aching. And you gotta keep moving, otherwise, you can etch lines if you stay in one spot too long with the wrong nozzle, I reckon. Plus, the splashback is real. My jeans were soaked pretty quickly, boots thankfully kept my feet dry.

Had to be careful around the edges near the flower beds too, didn't want to blast all the soil away or shred the leaves off my wife's plants. That would not have ended well.

Wrapping It Up

Took a good couple of hours to do the main areas I wanted. Switched the machine off at the plug, then squeezed the trigger again just to release any pressure left in the hose, like my neighbour showed me. Disconnected the garden hose, then coiled everything back up. Gave the machine a quick wipe with a rag, get the worst of the muck off before giving it back.

Stepped back and looked. Honestly, it looked so much better. Really brightened the whole front of the house up. It's hard work, make no mistake, and noisy, and messy. But seeing that transformation? Yeah, definitely worth the effort. Might have to borrow it again for the back patio next spring.