Okay, let me tell you about my weekend. The patio out back was looking absolutely disgusting. Seriously, years of dirt, moss, just general grime. It got to the point where I couldn't stand looking at it anymore.

So, I decided it was time to tackle it. My neighbor, Dave, has one of those high pressure machines, you know, a power washer thingy. He’s pretty good about lending stuff out, so I went over and asked if I could borrow it. He said sure, just make sure to bring it back clean, haha.

Getting it set up wasn't too bad. Had to hook up the garden hose to it, then plug the thing into the outdoor socket. Took me a minute to figure out the different nozzles it came with. Dave had mentioned one was stronger than the other, so I started with the wider spray one, just to be safe. Didn't want to accidentally carve my name into the paving stones.

Firing it Up

Alright, so I squeezed the trigger. Wowzers. That thing kicks! You definitely feel the power in your hands. I pointed it at the dirtiest corner of the patio first. And man, it was like magic. The dirt just lifted right off, blasted away into muddy water. It was actually pretty satisfying to watch.

I started working my way across the patio, nice and slow. You gotta overlap your passes a bit, otherwise you get these weird clean stripes. Learned that pretty quick. It's wet work, too. Got a fair bit of muddy spray back onto my boots and jeans, but hey, that’s part of the job, right?

• Connected the water hose.
• Plugged in the power cord.
• Picked a nozzle (went for the fan spray first).
• Started spraying, moving slow and steady.

There was this one really stubborn patch of green algae near the fence. Had to switch to the pointy nozzle for that – Dave called it the turbo nozzle or something. That really did the trick, just melted that green stuff away. Had to be careful though, that narrow jet is really strong.

Took me a good couple of hours, I reckon. Back was aching a bit by the end, holding that wand steady. But when I finally turned the machine off and rinsed everything down with the regular hosepipe, the difference was amazing. The stones actually looked like their original color again!

Cleaned the machine off like Dave asked, coiled up the hoses, and took it back over. He came out and had a look at the patio, gave me a nod. Job done.

So yeah, that high pressure machine? Pretty effective bit of kit. Made a messy job way faster than scrubbing would have. Definitely worth the effort, the patio looks a hundred times better. Glad I borrowed it.