It’s important to be able to feel happy with how your property looks. You use your driveway every single day and it’s going to take a lot of punishment over time.
Parking your cars on the driveway and dragging all sorts of dirt and grime onto the surface will make it look less than ideal eventually. It’s possible that your driveway might not look amazing right now if you haven’t been able to clean it in quite some time.
Many people will use pressure washers to clean their driveways so that things will look presentable again. If you don’t have a pressure washer, then you might be at a loss for what to do.
Thankfully, you can clean your driveway without a pressure washer. Read on to learn about the methods that you can employ to get good results when cleaning a driveway without a pressure washer.
1 – Use a Broom to Remove Dirt From the Driveway
The first thing that you will want to do when cleaning your driveway is sweep. Sweeping your driveway using a hard-bristled broom is going to be necessary to get all of the dirt off of the top layer of the driveway.
If you have some type of deck brush, then this is going to do a good job for you. You just need to try to be as thorough as possible when doing this so that you can get all of the dirt off.
You can even find some deck brushes that have extra features that will allow you to clean up stains right after they happen. For example, you can buy a broom jet that can shoot water downward while you’re scrubbing away stains and grime.
Even if you just have a standard hard-bristled broom it’ll be possible to get good results. Just go over every inch of your driveway with the broom to ensure that you remove as much dirt as you can.
2 – Create a Cleaning Solution
The next part of the process involves creating a cleaning solution that will allow you to get your driveway looking nice again. To do this, you’re going to want to go out and buy some washing soda if you don’t have any handy that you can use.
Washing soda is very similar to baking soda, but it’s a bit different. It’s recommended to use the washing soda for this process since it’s going to work perfectly for what you’re trying to accomplish.
Now that you have what you need, you’re just going to want to dissolve washing soda in warm water. It’s recommended to use 2.5 ounces of washing soda in one gallon of warm water.
You might need a lot more than a gallon of water depending on how large your driveway is. Get as much warm water as you need and add the appropriate amount of washing soda to create a powerful cleaning solution.
3 – Scrub the Driveway Deeply Using Your Deck Brush
Now you’re going to take the time to scrub the driveway deeply using your deck brush. Dip your deck brush in the cleaning solution that you have created and then start scrubbing the surface of the driveway.
This is going to take some time, but you should be able to get the driveway looking a lot nicer. Don’t rush yourself and try to go over every single bit of the driveway with your deck brush.
Stop frequently to dip the deck brush in the cleaning solution that you created. It’s also going to be a good idea to start scrubbing at the lowest point of your driveway and work your way up to the higher spots.
This method is a bit labor-intensive, but it’s going to get really good results. You should be able to remove some stains and get your driveway to look a lot prettier if you spend the necessary time scrubbing away.
It’s true that some stains might be stubborn about coming up, though. If you have deep oil stains, then it might be tough to get rid of them without many passes with your deck brush.
Some people even have issues getting some stains to come up when they’re using pressure washers. It just depends on how dirty your driveway is and what type of stains you’re dealing with.
Regardless, you’re going to be able to get the driveway looking really nice just using a deck brush and cleaning solution that is made from washing soda. It’s not going to be expensive at all to get what you need to do the job, and you’ll be able to do it without using a pressure washer.
4 – Finish Things Off with Your Hose
Once you’ve finished scrubbing the driveway really well with your deck brush, it’s going to be time to rinse things off with your hose. Ideally, you should have some type of attachment for your hose that will allow you to shoot fairly powerful blasts of water.
Most people have a pressure attachment for their hoses when they need to clean driveways, decks, and patios. They come in handy and they aren’t really that expensive all things considered.
Whether you have one of these or not, your goal is going to be to spray off the driveway. Start spraying at the high point of your driveway and allow everything to wash down to the low point.
Once you’ve finished, you should be able to stand back and examine the driveway. If things went well, then the driveway should look substantially better than it did when you started out.
5 – Kitty Litter Might Help to Remove Oil Stains
Did you accidentally spill some oil on your driveway when changing your oil one day? It happens sometimes when you’re trying to do things too fast, and it’s frustrating to have to be reminded of your mistake by looking at a huge oil stain in your driveway.
If cleaning your driveway with just washing soda and warm water didn’t do the trick, then you might need to try something else. Kitty litter might actually wind up being the secret weapon that will help you to get things looking nice again.
The basic idea is to spread kitty litter on top of any stains that you have on your driveway. This should help you to remove oil stains, grease stains, and many other types of stains that you might be dealing with.
Lay the kitty litter out on the stain and ensure that there is a thick layer of it. You can then try to wash things up using the standard washing soda and warm water method.
This kitty litter trick might be even more useful if you use it fast after spilling something. You can try leaving kitty litter on a stain spot for 12 hours or so before coming back and sweeping it up.
Kitty litter isn’t the only thing that can work to help you do this. Some people prefer using sawdust, but you might be more likely to have kitty litter around that you can use.
Either way, this is a handy little trick to keep in mind if you’re dealing with stubborn oil stains or grease stains in your driveway. It gives you a chance to get rid of annoying stains even when you don’t have access to a pressure washer.
6 – Scrubbing Things with Vinegar
Another idea that might help to get rid of certain stains involves using vinegar. Vinegar is a powerful cleaning agent that you can use for many purposes, and it might help you with your driveway.
What you want to do is mix vinegar in equal parts with warm water. Once you have your mixture made up, you can place it in a bucket or in some type of spray bottle.
If you placed it in a bucket, then you can just dip your deck brush into the bucket and use the vinegar to scrub your driveway. When you’re only trying to wash certain spots of the driveway, it might be fine to just spray the driveway and then scrub it with your deck brush.
You should notice that this simple vinegar solution will help you to get your driveway pretty clean. The method isn’t really much different than using washing soda, but it’s good to know that you have this option if you don’t have any washing soda handy.
It’s good to use vinegar to help you clean other concrete features on your property, too. For example, you might be able to use it to clean your patio or to help you clean any walkways that you have in your yard.
7 – What About Using Bleach?
You might think about using bleach to help you clean your driveway. This is something that could work out fine, but it’s probably going to be a good idea to proceed cautiously if you decide to do this.
Bleach can be very harmful when you use it carelessly. It has the potential to harm kids and animals, and you’re also going to want to keep it away from plants.
The fact that bleach can potentially harm foliage is one of the reasons why most people don’t recommend using bleach to clean driveways. If you do decide to use it, then you’ll want to be careful to not get it on your grass or your flowers.
It can be helpful to use bleach to try to get rid of particularly annoying stains. You could create a water and bleach mixture and then pour that solution on the stained portion of the driveway.
Allow the bleach solution to sit on the stained spot for around 10 minutes before scrubbing it up. You should notice a big difference and it’ll be fine so long as you use the bleach carefully.
It’s also worth noting that you should wear gloves when working with bleach. You don’t want your skin to come into contact with bleach since it can cause irritation.
You might even want to go so far as to wear a mask that will help you to avoid inhaling bleach fumes. As long as you’re really careful, using bleach for cleaning purposes is fine.
8 – Trisodium Phosphate
Trisodium phosphate (TSP) might be a cleaning solution that will be more powerful than what you created with washing soda. You might wonder why it wasn’t just recommended to use TSP instead of washing soda, but TSP has downsides to consider.
This is a powerful cleaning agent that can help you to get rid of stains and clean up your driveway nicely. It’s also toxic like bleach and needs to be handled with extreme care.
TSP is something that will require you to use gloves, safety goggles, and a mask when using it. You’ll also need to avoid letting any of the TSP touch your grass or your plants.
It could easily wind up killing portions of your lawn or flowers if you allow TSP to drip down into the wrong spot. This means that using it to clean the entire driveway might be impractical.
You might have a better experience when using TSP to clean specific spots. You could use it just to try to clean up stains when they aren’t cleaning up right using only washing soda.
Final Thoughts
Cleaning your driveway is something that you can get done even when you don’t have access to a pressure washer. It’s going to be a bit labor-intensive, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get good results.
You’ll be able to get your driveway looking really nice even if you just use standard methods. A bucket of warm water that contains some washing soda is really all that you need as a cleaning agent when dealing with most things.
Using a reliable deck brush and patiently scrubbing each inch of the driveway will allow you to get your driveway clean. If you have stubborn oil stains to deal with, then you might want to try other methods such as using kitty litter.
You should only use things such as bleach or TSP as a last resort due to how dangerous they can be. Overall, it’s not necessary to go out to buy a pressure washer just to clean your driveway, but that doesn’t mean that one wouldn’t be useful if you want to make the investment.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems and over 10 years of experience working in IT. As a homeowner, I love working on projects around the house, and as a father, I love investigating various ways to keep my family safe (whether or not this involves tech). I’ve also played guitar for almost 20 years and love writing music, although it’s hard to find the time these days.