Will pressure washing damage my concrete?

Done our way, no. Damage comes from a narrow tip held close — a turbo nozzle or a 0° jet — which etches the surface and leaves the fuzzy, exposed-sand look you've seen on over-washed driveways. We use a surface cleaner that rides flat and keeps moving, fed by flow rather than force, after a chemical pre-treat has already killed the growth. Stamped, aggregate and sealed concrete get a gentler setup still, and we check for sealer before we start.

Why pre-treat before pressure washing?

Because algae has roots. Pressure alone shears the green off the top of the concrete and leaves the base of the growth in the pores, which is why a plain pressure wash looks great for a month and then greens up again. A sodium hypochlorite pre-treat with a 5-to-10-minute dwell kills it first; the surface cleaner then lifts dead material instead of fighting live growth, so the pass is gentler and the result lasts.

Do you use hot water?

No, and we won't claim we do. Hot water earns its keep on grease and heavy oil on commercial slabs. The dirt on a Madison driveway is mostly organic — algae, mildew, lichen — and organic growth is killed by chemistry, not temperature. Cold water at 8 gallons a minute behind a sodium hypochlorite pre-treat does that job. For oil we use a degreaser, and we're honest about what it can and can't do.

Can you get oil stains out of a driveway?

Fresh oil, usually most of it. Old oil that has soaked into the concrete for years lightens noticeably but rarely vanishes, because it's below the surface where no cleaner reaches without damaging the slab. We work Dynamite Degreaser into the stain, let it sit, and rinse it as its own step. We'll tell you before we start which kind you have, so the result matches what you were promised.

What about rust and orange stains?

Rust, orange fertilizer streaks and hard-water marks are minerals, and sodium hypochlorite does nothing to them — a house wash or a pressure wash can even make them stand out more once the dirt around them is gone. They get F9 BARC, an acid-based restoration cleaner made for exactly that, applied and rinsed as a separate step and never anywhere near the SH. Beds are pre-wet and runoff is contained.

Where does the water go?

Onto your lawn or gravel, and away from your beds and any storm drain. Storm drains in Madison run to the lakes, so nothing from a wash is steered into one. The pre-treat is mostly spent by the time it's rinsed, and the flush is plain water — but we still walk the runoff path before we start and rinse the edge beds with clean water at the end.

How loud is it, and how long does it take?

It's a commercial engine on the truck, so it sounds like a lawn service for the duration — loud enough that our techs wear ear protection, quiet enough that the truck stays on the street thanks to 200 feet of hose. Time depends on square footage and how much growth there is; a typical two-car driveway is a morning's work including the pre-treat dwell and the rinse, and we'll give you a window when we quote it.

How we do it

Flow, not force: how we clean concrete without leaving marks

Name: The Total Wash Co.
Address: 7610 Welton Dr, Madison, WI, 53719, US
Telephone: (608) 360-5818
Price range: $

Shot on a Dane County driveway: the surface cleaner working across the concrete, leaving a clean arc behind it in a single pass.

A surface cleaner leaving a clean arc across a concrete driveway — The Total Wash Co., Madison WI

How do you pressure wash concrete without damaging it?

The Total Wash Co. cleans driveways and patios with an 8 GPM rig and a Whisper Wash surface cleaner, after pre-treating with sodium hypochlorite so the algae is killed, not just knocked down. Oil gets Dynamite Degreaser; rust gets F9 BARC. Runoff is steered away from beds and drains, and plants are rinsed after.

Anyone can rent a pressure washer and make a driveway look different for a week. The stripes and the fuzzy gray that show up afterward are the pressure washer talking. We pre-treat so the algae is dead before the water touches it, and then the surface cleaner rides flat with 8 gallons a minute doing the lifting. Cold water, chemistry, flow — that's the whole method, and it's why the finish is even.

Get your concrete priceLast verified: 2026-09-16

Step by step, the way we actually do it

1
Inspect the surface
We look for sealer, stamped or decorative finishes, exposed aggregate, cracks and spalling, and we map every oil spot and rust streak before anything gets wet. Sealed and decorative concrete never sees the turbo nozzle. If a stain needs its own treatment, you hear it now, not after.
2
Close up and clear the area
Windows and doors closed, cars moved off the drive, garage doors down, and every bed along the edge pre-wet with plain water from the plant hose. The runoff has to go somewhere, and this is where we decide where.
Gear: Plant hose, tarps and HVAC covers
3
Fill the buffer tank
The tank on the deck fills from your spigot while we set up, so the rig can pull its full 8 gallons a minute without starving. A starved pump surges, and a surging surface cleaner leaves marks.
Gear: Buffer tanks — 225 gal (2012 truck) / 250 gal (2020 truck)
4
Pre-treat with sodium hypochlorite
Sodium hypochlorite and Elemonator go on through the downstream injector and sit 5 to 10 minutes. This is the step that keeps the driveway clean: pressure alone shears the green off the top and leaves the roots, and it's back in a couple of months. Killed algae rinses off and stays off.
Gear: Super Suds Sucker stainless downstream injector Gear: Water Dragon remote downstream bypass (stainless)Chemistry: Sodium hypochlorite (downstreamed)Chemistry: Elemonator surfactant
5
Surface cleaner, flat and moving
The Whisper Wash rides flat on the concrete in overlapping passes at a steady walking pace. It never stops mid-pass — a two-second pause leaves a circle you'd see for a year — and it never tips, because a tipped hood is a wand in disguise. Flow does the work; the hood keeps the spray off your siding and your car.
Gear: Whisper Wash surface cleaners — 28-inch (2012 truck) / 24-inch Ground Force (2020 truck)Gear: 8 GPM pressure-washing rig
6
Edges, steps and corners
Where the surface cleaner can't reach — the edge against the garage, the steps, the corner by the downspout — the 25° tip on the wand finishes by hand, held at a consistent distance so the finish matches the field. The turbo tip stays in the box here too; a hand-finished edge should be invisible, not a different shade.
Gear: MTM Hydro SGS28 trigger gun, J-rod wand and 8.0-orifice tips
7
Oil and rust, as separate steps
Oil gets Dynamite Degreaser worked in and rinsed. Rust and orange fertilizer streaks get F9 BARC, an acid product that dissolves what bleach can't touch. These are never mixed with SH — acid plus chlorine makes chlorine gas — so each gets its own step and its own rinse. Honest expectations: old oil lightens, it rarely vanishes.
Chemistry: Dynamite DegreaserChemistry: F9 BARC
8
Final rinse, runoff managed
A wide 40° rinse floods the whole surface so the dirt actually leaves instead of drying in place. Runoff is steered onto the lawn or gravel, never toward a storm drain, and the beds along the edge get a second rinse of plain water before we pack up.
Gear: MTM Hydro SGS28 trigger gun, J-rod wand and 8.0-orifice tips Gear: Plant hose, tarps and HVAC covers

What we never do

Never a turbo nozzle on stamped, aggregate or sealed concrete.
Never a stop mid-pass with the surface cleaner.
Never pressure without the pre-treat.
Never runoff into a storm drain.
Never a hot-water claim — we don't run one, and organic growth doesn't need it.

The gear this takes

8 GPM pressure-washing rigEight gallons a minute is the number that matters, not pressure.Buffer tanks — 225 gal (2012 truck) / 250 gal (2020 truck)Your spigot gives about 3 to 5 gallons a minute.Whisper Wash surface cleaners — 28-inch (2012 truck) / 24-inch Ground Force (2020 truck)An even, stripe-free finish — the "zebra" marks on wand-washed driveways come from overlapping hand passes, which the bar eliminates.MTM Hydro SGS28 trigger gun, J-rod wand and 8.0-orifice tipsThe tip decides what touches your house.3/8-inch × 200 ft pressure hose on a reelThe truck stays on the street.Water Dragon remote downstream bypass (stainless)When the mix is on your wall and it's time to rinse, we don't walk back to the truck and pull a hose off a jug — we press a button and the line goes to clean water on the spot.Super Suds Sucker stainless downstream injectorIt's the reason the chemical on your siding is about 0.75 to 1%, not 12.Plant hose, tarps and HVAC coversThis is the kit that answers the first question we get: "What about my plants?" Every plant and bed within about 15 feet of a wall gets soaked with plain water before the first spray, re-wet during the dwell, and flooded after the wall is rinsed.PPE — respirator, glasses, gloves, ear protectionIt protects the person spraying chemistry at your house — which also tells you something about the chemistry.SDS binderYou can ask to see the sheet for anything we're about to put on your house, and we'll hand it to you before we start.

What we spray, and how we keep it off your plants

Sodium hypochlorite, downstreamed as a pre-treat
Elemonator surfactant
Dynamite Degreaser for oil
F9 BARC for rust and orange stains — its own step, never with SH

Safety on your property

Cars moved and garage doors down before the rig starts.
Beds along the edge pre-wet, and rinsed again at the end.
Runoff steered to lawn or gravel, never a storm drain.
The turbo nozzle stays in the box on stamped, aggregate or sealed concrete.
Techs in ear protection, Z87.1 glasses and nitrile gloves; the SDS for every product is in the cab.
F9 BARC and Dynamite Degreaser are applied and rinsed on their own, never in the same pass as SH.