Pressure Washing & Power Washing in County Meath
Power washing, pressure washing, jet washing — the same job. Here's the pressure we use on each surface, where it's the wrong tool, and why we finish with a softwash.
Power washing, pressure washing, jet washing — they're three names for the same thing, and it's what most people ring us about. Driveway Cleaning Meath pressure-washes driveways, patios, paths, yards and hard-standing right across County Meath, and Brendan Devlin has been doing it here for 20+ years. Fully insured, owner-operated, and the pressure set by what's under the lance rather than left on one setting all day.
This page is the straight answer to two questions we get asked constantly: what pressure do you actually use, and is it going to wreck my driveway? Below is the surface-by-surface version, the places where pressure is the wrong tool entirely, and why we finish a hard surface with a softwash. Send Brendan a few photos from your phone and you'll get a firm price on a quick house visit — free and no obligation either way.
Power washing, pressure washing, jet washing — the same job
They're the same thing. A pump pushes water through a narrow opening at high pressure and the force lifts dirt off a hard surface. Nobody in the trade means anything different by the three words, so whichever one you use when you ring, we'll know the job you mean.
What does vary — a lot — is how it's done. Two people can both call it a power wash and turn up with completely different results: one with a narrow lance held close to the surface, cutting stripes into the blocks and firing the jointing sand out across the garden; the other with a wide rotary surface head on moderate pressure that cleans evenly and leaves the surface intact. The word is the same. The job isn't.
What pressure we actually use, surface by surface
There is no single setting that suits every driveway, so the pressure comes down before the machine goes near the surface.
- Tarmac — the lowest. Much over 100 bar erodes the bitumen binder that holds tarmac together, exposes the chip and starts the premature fretting you see on a lot of older Meath estate drives. The nozzle stays a good distance back, and often we softwash it instead.
- Cobblelock and block paving — moderate, wide. A 15–21 inch rotary surface head spreads the pressure across a wide plate instead of driving it into one line. That's what stops the striping, and it's far gentler on the cement-rich face of the block.
- Plain concrete — the most tolerant. A poured concrete slab or path takes more pressure than anything else on the property, which is why it's the one surface where a heavy wash is usually safe.
- Pattern-imprinted concrete — low only. The colour layer and the sealer sit right at the top and pressure takes them off. PIC is washed gently and resealed as part of the job.
- Natural stone and sandstone — gentler again. Under 80 bar as a rule, and never above 150. Sandstone in particular pits under pressure, and once it's pitted it holds dirt and re-soils faster than before.
- Timber decking and fencing — low pressure, with the grain. Too much force tears the soft summer growth out of the timber and leaves it furred.
If you're not sure what you have, a photo settles it. Brendan can tell tarmac from a tarmac-look surface and cobblelock from clay paviors off a phone picture.
Where pressure washing is the right tool
Pressure has a real job to do, and we're not precious about it. On hard, robust surfaces it's the fastest way to shift years of ingrained dirt, and it's the first stage of most of our driveway work.
- Cobblelock, concrete and tarmac driveways carrying general dirt, tyre marks and the grey film that builds up over winters.
- Paths, footpaths and steps — usually the greenest, most slippery part of a property, and a genuine safety job as much as a cosmetic one.
- Yards, hard-standing and farm concrete, where the volume of dirt is the problem and the surface can take it.
- Walls, piers and kerbs in solid masonry — as long as the pointing is sound.
On all of these the wash is stage one, not the finish. Straight after it we apply the softwash, because the wash alone doesn't deal with why the surface went green.
Where pressure washing does damage
This is the part worth reading before you book anyone. Some surfaces cost real money to put right, and a pressure washer is a blunt tool on all of them.
- K-Rend, silicone and monocouche render. These are water-repellent by design, and pressure strips exactly the layer that does the work. It also voids the manufacturer's warranty on most systems. It's softwash only — no exceptions.
- Roof tiles and slate. Concrete tile has a cement-rich surface that pressure scours off, which actually speeds up the next moss growth. Slate is brittle and lapped, so force breaks slates and pushes water up under the laps.
- Pre-2000 fibre cement (Tegrals). It may contain asbestos, and modern replacements look identical, so we treat all of it as asbestos-containing until a survey says otherwise. We won't pressure-wash it, and we ask the age of a roof before we quote.
- Old pebbledash and soft, aged mortar. Common in the heritage cores of Trim, Kells and older Navan. Pressure drives into a surface that's been weathering for sixty years and takes the stones off with the dirt.
- Natural sandstone patios. Pitting is permanent, and a pitted slab gets dirty faster from then on.
If a contractor offers to power wash your render or your roof, that on its own tells you something. Ask what pressure they're using and what happens to the render warranty.
Why we always finish with a softwash
A pressure wash removes what you can see. It does not kill what's growing. Moss anchors into a surface with fine rhizoids, and lichen is a fungus and an algae living together behind a tough outer skin — high pressure takes the top off both and leaves the living parts embedded in the pores and the joints.
That's the honest reason a power-washed driveway greens up again so quickly: nothing about the biology changed. Worse, blasting live growth spreads the spores around the surface while you work.
So on every hard surface we wash, we follow with a biodegradable softwash biocide at low pressure — the dwell time does the work, not force. The growth is killed at the root, and the only way it comes back is from fresh spores landing later. That's what turns a clean that lasts months into one that lasts years. It's the same method behind all our softwashing work, and there's a fuller comparison in our guide to softwash vs pressure wash.
Pressure washing across County Meath
Brendan works out of Trim and covers the county — Navan, Ashbourne, Ratoath, Kells, Dunshaughlin and the towns and villages around them, plus the bordering parts of Louth, Cavan, Westmeath and Kildare. Same method everywhere, owner on every job, fully insured.
A cleaned block driveway also comes up in the conversation about re-sanding — a wash takes the kiln-dried sand out of the joints, so refilling them is the natural finishing step. It's priced separately and it's your call.
Frequently asked questions
Is power washing the same as pressure washing?
Will pressure washing damage my driveway?
Can you pressure wash my render or my roof?
Why did my driveway go green again so quickly after it was power washed?
Do you put the jointing sand back after a power wash?
How do I get a quote?
Talk to us about pressure washing
For further details and a no-obligation quote, please call Brendan on +353 87 824 1492 — or send a few photos from your phone.
Free, no-obligation quote — usually back to you within 24 hours. Local to Meath. Owner-operated. Fully insured.