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Original poster

How long should it take to pressure wash a patio for God's sake?

28 replies

TheBitterBoy · 13/04/2020 16:05

Every year about this time our nearby neighbours pressure wash their patio. It seems to take them the better part of a weekend, and oh joy they spent all day yesterday working on it. The noise drives me crazy. Normally I can escape for part of the day to go shopping or something but obviously not this year. So they finished late yesterday afternoon having ruined the garden for me on the nicest sunny days we've had recently, fine. Today I come out of the shower to th he sound of a pressure washer starting up in my neighbours garden in the other side. This was 9am and they are still going. Does it really take

OP posts:
Original poster
TheBitterBoy · 13/04/2020 16:06

Sorry, posted too soon, does it really need to take so long to pressure wash a patio?

OP posts:
IntrovertBnReady4Lockdown4Ages · 13/04/2020 16:09

I do think at 9am, they're taking the piss! Quite inconsiderate at this time. It's not like they don't have all day today, tomorrow and the next to do it. Unless they're keyirkers or something.

IntrovertBnReady4Lockdown4Ages · 13/04/2020 16:10

Wow! I swear I wrote keyworkers!

I would like to meet some keyirkers though..bet they're something.

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fascinated · 13/04/2020 16:12

It does actually. I’ve started paying to get mine done for that reason.

Original poster
TheBitterBoy · 13/04/2020 16:13

To be fair it wasn't the start time that bothered me so much as one set of neighbours finished theirs, then the other side start up, and it seems to take hours and hours. I've never used a pressure washer and our patio is fine, so I don't understand the need to take so long.

OP posts:
Original poster
TheBitterBoy · 13/04/2020 16:14

What is it that takes the time? No they aren't keyworkers. I wouldnt have minded if they had held off until I'm at work tomorrow!

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GigiLamour · 13/04/2020 16:16

It can take bloody ages, to be fair. I pressure washed our patio in our old house (really a very small patio) and it took hours. The jet was really small and our patio was filthy.

But they are still being unreasonable to be doing this at 9am on a Bank Holiday, and over a weekend when it's sunny, everyone's at home, and their neighbours are going to want to use their gardens!

Plus they would be better off spraying it gently with a patio cleaning product and just leaving it to work. They must be using a shedload of water (where is it all running off to?), and also they won't be doing their mortar any good with that pressure spray.

GigiLamour · 13/04/2020 16:17

What is it that takes the time?

It's like colouring in an A4 sheet with a biro.

NoImNotEntertained · 13/04/2020 16:19

Ugh I hear you. It's such an irritating, loud, droning noise! And it stops and starts as well so you think they might have stopped and then....wait...no..there it goes again! It does take ages though to do it properly.

We've had 2 years of hell with major demolition and excavation on one side during the week and then "Danny DIY" starting up on the other side every weekend with his hammer and drill. I was ready to murder someone with a spatula at one point. I think adding a power washer to the mix might have sent me over the edge! Grin

CallMeRachel · 13/04/2020 16:20

Some people have nothing else to be doing so they spend all their time 'doing' something in the garden.

My old neighbours were in their 80's and would start garden work every day at 6am!!
He'd start with wiping down every wooden surface with a rag then start snipping every bush and ivy taking a millimetre off from the previous day. Then the petrol lawn mower would come out, three times a week!

It's bizzare how one neighbour starts then the other copies as soon as they've finished.

My current neighbours have three kids who are unleashed into the garden from 7am just now!! The noise from them all is massive. I'd still rather have kids screaming than petrol lawnmowers and garden power tools going though.

HanarCantWearSweaters · 13/04/2020 16:21

@GigiLamour sums it up perfectly

Original poster
TheBitterBoy · 13/04/2020 16:21

Right, I would say fair enough then, but I'm still cheesed off my lovely weekend off has been spoiled by noise for two solid days. As I said, normally I hear them kick it off and think to myself okay it's that time of year then and take myself off somewhere for the day, but feel trapped this year. I am over sensitive to noise anyway but I can hear this all over the house, even with the windows closed.

OP posts:
Original poster
TheBitterBoy · 13/04/2020 16:23

Yes, it's the starting and stopping which is the most disruptive

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Vintagehearts · 13/04/2020 16:25

I did mine last weekend and although it was noisy all day and the neighbour's probably hated me for it. It still doesn't even compare to me, a quiet neighbour, having to endure their noise all summer with various parties/swearing/loud kids. And the neighbour's behind me have a bbq almost every day during nice weather stinking out my washing. So a day of noisy power washing didn't have me feeling guilty at all...

Chickenpie9 · 13/04/2020 16:25

My neighbours spend all spring and summer working on their garden which has no grass or flowers just fence and slabs but never actually seem to just sit and enjoy relaxing in it . I can never understand why people never just want to sit outside read a book ,listen to music with headphones or anything else . The constant need to work on gardens which don’t need a lot done baffles me .

walksen · 13/04/2020 16:28

Depends on the size of the patio I'd expect.

The cheaper pressure washers have less power which means the lance has to be closer to the slab and you do thin strips each time.

If you pay someone they often use machine with double the pressure and 4 or 5 times the flow rate but is much quicker.

You night also apply a biocide etc to get rid of mould stains etc after which requires extra rinse downs.

Id guess a lot of people havent really got on top of these jobs with wet february and march and it is useful to have tasks to keep occupied after a few weeks of lockdown.

PhilCornwall1 · 13/04/2020 16:33

3 days, 3 fucking days!!! its taken a neighbour here to jet wash her decking. I swear if it went into a fourth, she was going to be under the decking!!

There is nothing worse than that noise of the jet going over the gaps in decking, it sounds like a bee on acid!!!

JemNadies · 13/04/2020 16:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RingtheBells · 13/04/2020 16:37

It takes ages, that is why I started using Patio Magic moss cleaner each year as it is much quicker and easier

Makeitgoaway · 13/04/2020 16:42

DS did our driveway last week. It's wide enough for 4 cars, so a lot bigger than our patio! It took him 3 days but he didn't stick at it for particularly long sessions. Maybe 5 hours in total. Progress is slow but unless they have an exceptionally large patio, 2 full days does seem excessive.

BobbinThreadbare123 · 13/04/2020 16:44

My neighbour does this two or three times a year. He's even done it in the rain. Water bull must be phenomenal.
They've also continued to have garden parties with visitors, throughout the lock down. Guess you have to have a shiny deck to impress the guests!

CruCru · 13/04/2020 17:07

It is surprising how long garden jobs take, to be fair. My husband keeps muttering about chopping back our hedges - I've said absolutely not as birds are nesting and the dump isn't open (he usually generates about ten 1m squared bags of cuttings so needs several trips to the dump).

bigbluebus · 13/04/2020 17:20

Well our neighbour (behind) spent all day pressure washing what I assume was their patio the other day. In addition to the noise from that they had music blaring out and the kids were screaming (either at each other, at the parents or just having a tantrum presumably because they were being ignored whilst the important task of pressure washing took place. I was very tempted to shout STFU but I was very reserved because no doubt at some point in the summer we will have friends over and make a small (but civilised) amount of noise in our garden and I want to have one in the bag of they complain!

On our way back home from our permitted exercise yesterday we encountered a chap pressure washing his driveway. He was right next to the footpath we needed to walk on with only a low wire fence between us and him. We stopped and waited for him to stop and step away so that we could a)get by whilst keeping 2m away and b)not get wet! He was on his mobile phone staring down at his driveway and didn't see us or hear us calling him! We must have stood ther for at least 2 mins waiting to attract his attention.

We do not own or see the need to own a pressure washer. DH wets our patio with the hose and then uses a stiff broom - job done in half an hour! I do not get the obsession with them and would be interested to know how much water they actually use as we're all on water meters here!

BruceAndNosh · 13/04/2020 17:24

My neighbour spent the best part of Saturday doing his front block paved drive, 4 cars wide

cortex10 · 13/04/2020 17:32

Our neighbours both sides clean their drives and paths with pressure washers every month without fail. One side even climbs up and washes down the roof of the house a coupe of times a year (and washes all of the cr*p onto our side).