We have moved house and the new house has a deck which needs a lot of TLC.
I am thinking about pressure washing it and the driveway as well.
I am going to hire the pressure washer for the weekend and wonder if STW has any tips or advice?

I thank you

Don't point it at your face.

deck – use one of the brush things on the washer it'll be cleaner and quicker.

driveway – be careful you don't just end up blasting grit and mud over every adjacent vertical surface.

Id get a deck hand to swob it if it were you.

point it at the ground aim and fire bit like peeing but longer hose and much more powerful

I miss-read deck as duck, and thought you were mocking the degreasing a cat thread.

That is all

I didn't get good results with just a pressure washer. Have heard good things about the brush attachments though.

As by training I am a detergent development chemist, and can read an ingredient label, rather than use a proprietary deck cleaner at great expense, I used diluted down dishwash detergent (check the label for phosphate or tripolyphosphate) with a couple of capfuls of household bleach chucked in to deal with the algae. And then scrubbed like hell with a softish broom. Then use the p/w on fan to sluice the filth off. Hard work over the course of 2 evenings (6m x 5m deck), but it worked pretty well.

I got stunning results on ours using a pressure washer.
I used the 'deck washing' brush for teh most part, but it doesn't actually scrub, it just contains the spray so it just runs away.
As long as you are patient, and SLOWLY just 'pass' the jet of water methodoligically (sp?) up and down the decking, the crud just peels off!

DrP

On ours, the pressure washer stripped off most of the old deck stain which was a good thing but there are some stubborn bits left which means that it's now a bit patchy having been re-stained. I'd not pressure wash it again – I'd do it by hand I reckon as it still took ages.

On ours, the pressure washer stripped off most of the old deck stain which was a good thing but there are some stubborn bits left which means that it's now a bit patchy having been re-stained. I'd not pressure wash it again – I'd do it by hand I reckon as it still took ages.

This coming from a man who hoovers his decking.

Look, it was quicker than sweeping it! 😉

I've just used ronseal deck clean with a yard brush and then jet wash – looks brand new. Have noticed in a few places though where the jet was too powerful the top 'layer' of wood has gone a bit 'fluffy' but should be fine once timber care on it as jet washing takes off previous treatments