Sometimes, it can be tough to clean your sidewalks and steps. It is not easy because they are always wet. Some people will use a pressure washer to wash the steps but I find that this is too harsh on the concrete surfaces. The other problem with this method is dealing with the sediment. You need to have a plughole at the bottom of the porch, otherwise, you’re just washing all the dirt away again.

The best option for me has been to use a high pressure hose nozzle attached to my garden hose pipe. It’s gentle enough that it doesn’t damage the surface of the concrete steps or sidewalk but it still cleans them well. I usually do this after rain, so if there are leaves on them, they get washed away.

I don’t use a nozzle on the actual handle of the hose pipe, but I do remove it from one end and screw this onto these plastic coupling adaptors to make it fit with my spray head. It will still work without the removal though. If you have never done this before, these are very easy to attach and change around which saves messing about trying different nozzles when you just want to rinse off your steps or sidewalk after cleaning them!

If you have a lot of sediment on your concrete surfaces, you can use a wood broom to remove some of this before washing them. An alternative would be to use the plastic bristled brush as shown below. If you do this then it is best not to turn the water on until the debris has been removed or else it will just end up going into your plughole and blocking it up which is a job for another day!

This is the main reason why I prefer to use the high pressure nozzle. The only downside of this is that you will need to put some effort into it and might end up getting wet! This can be minimised by doing it on a dry day or using one of these diaphragm water pumps which does not require your input after starting it. One other thing I like about this method is that if you find any holes in the surface, you can fill them with silicone sealant (I use clear) before washing them off. If done right, no-one should notice anything at all different afterwards – including me!

You won’t always want to do this though as anything left behind can as glue for dirt once they dry out. If you don’t want to use the high pressure hose nozzle, you could try using one of these wooden hand scrapers instead.