How Often Should You Pressure Wash a Driveway?
Written by John Gasiamis, Founder — John's Handyman Service
Most concrete or paved driveways in Melbourne benefit from a pressure wash about once a year. Shaded driveways, or ones near trees and on the south side of the house, usually need it more often as moss and mould build up faster where sunlight doesn't reach.
Damp, shaded areas grow algae and moss surprisingly fast, and both make paving genuinely slippery, not just dirty-looking. Oil stains and general grime build up more slowly but respond well to pressure washing too. A home pressure washer can handle light surface dirt, but baked-on grime, moss, and oil staining usually need commercial-grade equipment and the right detergent to actually lift rather than just move around.
What to check before booking one in
Pressure washing can expose or worsen existing cracks and loose pavers, especially on older concrete — the force of the water finds weak joints and washes out loose sand or bedding underneath pavers. It's worth a quick look at the surface beforehand: if there are visible cracks or movement already, a lower-pressure clean or a different approach might be a better call than full pressure.
Worth knowing before you book one in: on porous or older surfaces, we'll sometimes recommend a sealant afterward to slow how fast moss and staining come back — it's optional, but it stretches the time between cleans noticeably on shaded areas.
A shaded driveway in Fairfield hadn't been cleaned in several years and had a fine layer of moss that wasn't obviously visible until we started — it had made the surface genuinely slippery near the front steps. One clean and it was back to bare concrete; the homeowner said they hadn't realised how much of a hazard it had become.
Common questions
Used carefully, no — but on older or already-cracked concrete, the water pressure can expose weak joints or wash out bedding sand from under pavers. We check the surface first and adjust pressure accordingly.
For light surface dirt, yes. Established moss, mould, and oil staining generally need commercial-grade equipment and the right detergent to lift properly rather than just spread around.
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