Is It Safe to Pressure Wash Concrete With Cracks in It?
Do you have a dirty sidewalk, patio, driveway, or other concrete surface? It is well known that pressure washing is the simple solution to cleaning it up. However, if your concrete surface has cracks or chips, you may wonder if it is even safe to have it cleaned or if its okay to pressure wash concrete?
While it is true that high pressure can further damage already damaged concrete, if you intend to patch those cracks or damaged areas soon, they can actually benefit from a lower pressure wash. What happens that makes concrete cracks so frustrating is that over time dirt will settle into those cracks. Seeds will also settle into those cracks. Add in a little dose of rain water and suddenly plants are growing in those cracks. This ruins the nice aesthetic of your concrete, but the growing roots work to widen the crack, causing further damage. If you manage to remove the plants out of the concrete cracks, if the dirt remains in the concrete crack, it can affect the integrity of the patch when you do fix it. As such, pressure washing can be a tool to not just clean the surrounding concrete, but to flush out the dirt from cracks you intend to patch.
If you do have cracked concrete, it is important that you leave pressure washing to the professionals. The pressure in which to clean concrete is vastly different from the pressure that you want to use in order to flush dirt out of a crack. Using too high of pressure risks widening the crack or causing chips that will make it just that much more difficult to patch in the future.
Do you have concrete surface that needs cleaning? We can help with that. Contact us today to see what APro Pressure Washing can do to help you get your concrete clean without risking any damage.