Followup: Pressure washer for weed removal...

[Paul F.]

Last week I asked if a pressure washer would be a good tool to remove weeds from cracks in my driveway in preparation for filling the cracks with concrete patch...

Well, the local Harbor Freight had a cheap import 1300 PSI pressure washer on sale for $80...
Brought it home, hooked it up, and it works GREAT!

I don't expect a long life span for anything purchased at Harbor Freight... (fair warning: they sell the very cheapest of the cheap of mostly-asian made tools... but if you need a "one time only" or seldom used tool, the price is often right).

This weekend I should have time to do a thorough job, and start the concrete patching.

Thanks for the input in the last thread!

[Jack D.]

Just an FYI Paul. When you first fire that baby up and play with the adjustable spray width theres something built into our genetic makeup that says "Go ahead, put your fingers into the stream, it's only water. It's gonna be fun!". Don't listen to the voice. Trust me, I'm not a moron but sometimes I play one when I'm working with new toys...I mean tools. If you don't break the skin it will sting for a long time....and maybe get a little numb too (but it comes back!). But I'm just hypothesizing here. Sheesh....I'd need a bag of hammers and some lydocaine to be that stupid! B)-

[Paul F.]

Don't worry...
I've had enough "Well, that was sure Dumb!" moments with welding, machining, and blacksmithing that I think I've caught on to reading at least SOME of the safety tips in the manual.

1300 PSI sounds just as painful as 1800 degrees..

[AlphaDog]

Hey, Paul, is it gas powered?

[Racer X]

Nah, 110 AC. The gas ones are 2,300 psi on up. You can cut 2x4s with those. I have an 1800 PSI one, and I put a tatoo on my fence before I pulled the wand away.

[Zoidberg]

I remember years ago working at a Bennigan's in Metairie; the managers wanted to spruce up the building but didn't want to pay anyone to do it (cleaning or painting, etc) so they rented a gas-powered pressure washer and figured they'd spray clean the building.

Which was stucco.

Guess what happened. To give them credit, it only happened in one swath, but it was quite a swath.

[AlphaDog]

I'm looking for a new electric "Mama Bear" power washer, and at first $80 sounded intriguing, but I think I need a bigger one. My 1600 psi Karcher got stolen last week. On the bright side, my son had tried to use it a couple of days earlier, and it wouldn't turn on, so maybe the thieves got what they deserved.

Off to Lowe's to spend more money I guess. Where did you get the 1800 psi?

[haikuman]

Paul ...besides the benign ways to remove the weeds there is one more thing you can
do that is almost benign.

There is / are some pre emergent cloth manufactured that is loaded with
weed deterrents.

This could be laid in the areas you are patching prior to pouring the cement.

Just a thought *(:>*

[RAMd®d]

I was helping somebody paint a house and needed to wash it down.

We rented an electric pressure washer from Home Depot, I think, and I fired it up with a general purpose nozzle. Not bad methinks, but the narrow focused tip should work much faster on stubborn spots.

Waving it over the stucco, it cleaned much better. But when I held it on more stubborn area, it looked like a kerf from a circular saw. Stopped that real quick.

In the plus side, it made short work of some wasps and their nest in the eaves.

[Racer X]

[quote AlphaDog]I'm looking for a new electric "Mama Bear" power washer, and at first $80 sounded intriguing, but I think I need a bigger one. My 1600 psi Karcher got stolen last week. On the bright side, my son had tried to use it a couple of days earlier, and it wouldn't turn on, so maybe the thieves got what they deserved.

Off to Lowe's to spend more money I guess. Where did you get the 1800 psi?
Mine came from Lowe's (I think, it was a hand me down from the next door neighbor) a red Husky brand 1800 psi 110v roughly 15 amps, with a ground fault interrupter in the plug.