Driveway & Patio Cleaning in Billesley

Shaded side paths and leaf-stained rear patios between the semis

Shade and leaf do more damage here than traffic. A side path between two semis gets perhaps an hour of direct sun a day and never dries out properly, so algae establishes and stays. Rear patios on the plots backing onto Swanshurst Park, the Common and Chinn Brook Meadows sit under leaf for two months of the year, and leaf tannin stains concrete and light slabs as it rots down on them. Drives have the opposite problem: moss and weed in block paving joints, tyre scrub where a car turns in off a wide estate road, and oil under the spot where it stands.

• Long side paths in permanent shade between two semis, which never dry out and green up every winter
• Rear patios at the top of deep plots, sitting under leaf fall for a good two months of the year
• Leaf tannin staining concrete and light-coloured slabs where it has been left to rot down on them
• Drives dropped through the old front garden in block, concrete or tarmac, each needing a different pressure
• Moss and weed growth in block paving joints, plus tyre scrub at the point the car turns in

One plot, several decades of paving, and the right pressure for each

We identify the surface before anything is switched on, because a Billesley front garden may hold block paving from 2005 sitting next to a concrete path laid in the 1930s. Sound concrete and block paving get rotary pressure cleaning at a controlled height. Tarmac gets a lower pressure, because hitting it hard loosens the surface. Thin old concrete paths, brick edging and anything running up against pebbledash or render are soft-washed instead, so nothing is driven into the base of the wall. Joints are cleared of moss and weed, and re-sanding is raised before we start.

• Surface identified first, since one property here often has three of them
• Rotary cleaning on sound block and concrete, reduced pressure on tarmac, soft-wash against pebbledash and render
• Re-sanding quoted separately when the joints need it, and raised at quoting stage, because cleaning block paving always removes some sand
• Displaced silt cleared and carted off, never heaped at the end of the side path

More detail on the equipment and the order of work: our patio & driveway cleaning method.

Drives, side paths and rear patios

Spring is the season, once the winter growth has shown itself, and on a uniform estate street neighbouring drives can be done on the same visit. We cover the B13 streets towards Swanshurst Park and the B14 side around Billesley Common, and at about twenty minutes from Selly Oak a slot within the week is usually possible. Access is straightforward: the wide roads take the van and the machine, and the plots are open enough to run hoses without crossing anybody else’s property.

Area, condition and the kiln-dried sand a block drive needs back

Area and condition set the price, and the surface sets the method. A drive across a former front garden is a modest area and quick if it has been done before. A side path green for five years may want two applications and is almost entirely edge work, so it costs more per square metre than the drive does. The rear patios on these deep plots are often the largest single area on the property. The one genuine add-on is kiln-dried sand for block paving: cleaning takes it out of the joints, it has to go back, and we say so before starting.

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Side paths every year, front drives less often

Annually for side paths, because permanent shade between two houses means the algae is back within the year however well it was cleaned, and on the route to your bins that is a question of grip before looks. Rear patios under the park and Chinn Brook trees are much the same, ideally in spring once the winter leaf has been taken off them. Drives are usually fine every one to two years unless something is overhanging them.