Cleaning block paving with bleach?

Spender£

My neighbour says he now uses bleach mixed with water to pour on his drive with a watering can to get it clean instead of getting the jet washer out.

I use my jet washer but i would be concerned using the bleach in terms of the environmental impact on insects (although i do find ants removing the sand annoying) in the paving.
The thing he does it mix 1 part thin bleach with about 9 parts water and just pour it all over the block paving and i have to say it looks better than my karcher results without the mud and mess.

Anybody heard of this before?

flo22

Yes that's the old school way.  I remember my nan used to bleach the front path weekly

outtatune

Professionals use dilute sodium hypochlorate for this exact purpose, which is what you water down to make bleach, so yes this is fine. 

Albermarle

Spender£ said:

My neighbour says he now uses bleach mixed with water to pour on his drive with a watering can to get it clean instead of getting the jet washer out.

I use my jet washer but i would be concerned using the bleach in terms of the environmental impact on insects (although i do find ants removing the sand annoying) in the paving.
The thing he does it mix 1 part thin bleach with about 9 parts water and just pour it all over the block paving and i have to say it looks better than my karcher results without the mud and mess.

Anybody heard of this before?

The environmental impact of bleach going down the drains is not great, but then neither is the use of gallons and gallons of fresh water for the Karcher.
The only really environmentally friendly thing to do is to leave it dirty.

Bigphil1474

Unfortunately letting bleach go down any drain is a bad idea - at the end it kills bacteria in the treatment plants so is bad for that, but nearer home it's a risk as it can react to other chemicals you might put down the drain. 

Putting tap water down the drain doesn't have any particular issues. You could try collecting rainwater to use with your jet wash - probably not enough pressure? Might be better to use a bit of elbow grease instead.

GrubbyGirl_2

Use a sprayer to put it on then less chemicals used

casper_gutman

Bigphil1474 said:

Unfortunately letting bleach go down any drain is a bad idea - at the end it kills bacteria in the treatment plants so is bad for that, but nearer home it's a risk as it can react to other chemicals you might put down the drain. 

Putting tap water down the drain doesn't have any particular issues. You could try collecting rainwater to use with your jet wash - probably not enough pressure? Might be better to use a bit of elbow grease instead.

Check the manual for your pressure washer to find out the requirements for your machine, but many pressure washers will use water from a water butt or other tank quite happily. Some are designed to work with a suction hose placed in a pool or tank. The pressure is provided by the pump and not the mains supply. 

For example, Karcher sell a suction hose intended for people who want to use their machines with water butts, buckets, tanks etc. Karcher Pressure Washer Suction Hose | Halfords UK (cheaper alternatives are doubtless available, but the existence of an official accessory illustrates that the practice is supported).