When you’re selling a home the preparation you put into making sure the inside is clean and tidy may not be the only item on the list of must cleans. In fact, the most important is the one least thought of.

This was true in my case as well. Here I was thinking ok; lay laminate in the bathrooms, buff and shine things that should sparkle, make sure the inside is as clean and pretty as possible. Then my Realtor said to get a pressure washer and clean the patio.

I almost felt like smacking myself in the head and going “duh”.. It’s not like I didn’t notice that the concrete wasn’t the typical gray color, in fact it was black. I hadn’t planned on buying one though and after dropping the cash on a lawn mower I cringed at the thought.

Luckily my father in-law happened to have one so I asked if I could borrow it. When he got back with my son (who stays the day once a week) I’d asked him about it thinking he forgot. Turns out he remembered me asking about a pressure washer two or three months ago and decided to get me one of my own.

When he dropped it off I thanked him several times for it, really don’t think I could thank him enough. Especially with how useful it is. It’s an amazing little piece of equipment.

I opened it up and played with it a bit, just to get the feel for it. Today however was the full run on cleaning, in fact my plan was to pressure wash the entire house. First the pillars on the front porch that need painting, then the walkway, then around the house and ending with the patio. Wow, what a bit of work that all was. Nine hours later my job was almost done.

After nine hours though I decided to call it quits, mostly because of the massive sunburn I had at that point. I still have a little to do but I’m nearly done. Tomorrow I seal the concrete and paint the pillars. It will be an easy day.

Back on track with the pressure washer, it’s a Karcher 1500-PSI Electric Model K2.26M. There’s nothing special about it besides the fact that it works. In fact it’s the lowest price model at Lowes I believe, but that doesn’t matter. It’s how it performs, which is outstanding.

It’s basically a no frills washer. It comes with two attachments, a variable spray and rotary spray wand. The rotary spray was the wand of choice for me until the very end when I needed to rinse off the patio. I was surprised to see though that the plug had no ground on it. It does however have a GFI on it, or perhaps a breaker. I didn’t read the instructions so not sure which. Hey, I’m male. RTFM yourself..

All in all it delivers results with very little problem. It’s powerful enough to blow the hardest dirt out of a textured concrete and can even handle blowing off some paint off said concrete that had dried for several years. It handled wood like a champ as well blowing almost all signs of dirt clean off.

So my thumb goes way up for this little tool. It’s fairly inexpensive, easy to use and will not disappoint when it comes to results.

Specs:

• Durable wheels and retractable handle for easy mobility
• Total stop function on trigger gun: motor only runs while you work
• Use the included Dirtblaster Spray Wand to clean heavily soiled brick, stone, concrete, metal and other non-delicate surfaces
• For less intense cleaning, use the adjustable Vario Power Spray (VPS) Wand. Simply dial up the amount of pressure you wish to use. Twist to the lowest setting to automatically apply detergent.