Pressure washing driveway will boost curb appeal

QI recently had my house painted, and now I want to clean my driveway to spruce up the front of the house a bit. Since we park our cars in the garage I really don’t have oil stains to worry about. Any ideas?

allows you to mix detergent in the line as it pumps out water. It’s your choice toadddetergenttothesprayoryou can apply it to the driveway and then spray it off — just make sure whatever detergent you add is environmentally safe. But this step just creates more work, and that’s the last thing you want to do on your weekend. Most people use just straight water to blow and go.

Using the machine is a matter of connecting the hoses correctly. The garden hose connects to the inlet, and the sprayer hose connects to the outlet.

Fire up the machine, and you are ready to spray. The sprayer wand will usually have an adjustable tip, but it might come with different sized tips so you can get different concentrations of water.

Start at the top of your driveway and, using a wide angle spray, hold it at a 45-degree angle about a foot from the driveway surface. Spray an area and see if it produces the finish you want. If not, adjust the spray pattern for more blasting power in difficult areas.

You might have to go over some areas multiple times. Always remembertodirectthespraydownandaway from your body.

Mike Klimek is a licensed contractor and owner of Las Vegas Handyman. Questions may be sent by email to handymanoflasvegas@msn.com.