Driveway & Patio Cleaning in Castle Bromwich

Shaded drive halves, road grit and Hall Gardens tannin

Shade and aspect do most of the damage here. A drive on the north side of a detached house, shaded by the garage wing and a boundary hedge, greens up in a way the sunny half of the same frontage does not, so drives here often go patchy, not uniformly dirty. Traffic adds its own layer: a fine road grit settles into block joints and open-textured concrete and holds moisture, which feeds the algae as well as sitting on it. Around the Hall Gardens the tree load compounds it, with leaf tannin staining paving through autumn. Rear patios and side paths, being shaded and used less, are usually worse than the drive itself.

• North-facing drives shaded by garage wings and boundary hedges, which green unevenly across one frontage
• Road grit working into block joints and open concrete, holding moisture and feeding algae
• Leaf tannin staining on paving near the Hall Gardens through autumn
• Shaded side paths and rear patios, which are usually in worse condition than the drive at the front
• Paths and steps in the historic core, where pressure washing is simply not an option

Rotary on estate block, soft-wash beside the Hall and church

We identify the surface before anything is switched on, and in this parish that also means establishing where the property sits. Sound block paving and concrete on the estates get rotary pressure cleaning, joints cleared of moss and weed growth, and re-sanding quoted separately before we start where the joints need it. Anything near the Hall, the gardens or the church gets soft-washing: a low-pressure application that kills the growth chemically and rinses away without touching old jointing or driving water into historic walling. Adjacent walls and doors are rinsed down and the displaced silt is carted off.

• Rotary cleaning at working pressure on sound block paving and concrete across the estates
• Soft-wash only on paths, steps and paving anywhere near the Hall, the gardens or the parish church
• Joints cleared of moss and weed, with re-sanding quoted separately where the joints need it
• Silt removed from site instead of being swept into a heap beside your gate

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

Estate drives and historic paths

Across the outer estates this is a spring job, once the winter growth has shown itself, and streets of similar houses with similar drives mean the same method suits most of a road. Nearer the core the work is usually a front path, a set of steps and a side entry, done slowly and at low pressure. Castle Bromwich is about thirty-five minutes from Selly Oak and is covered on set days, so booking ahead is the way to get the week you want.

Why a shaded historic path can take as long as a big drive

Area and condition set the figure, but method sets the time, and soft-washing is not the cheaper option simply because the machine is quieter. The solution needs contact time and steps and edges are hand work, so a shaded historic path can take as long as a bigger estate drive. On block paving the cost people forget is the kiln-dried sand: cleaning takes it out of the joints and it has to go back or the blocks start to move, so re-sanding is quoted separately when the joints need it. Oil stains in front of a garage and heavy tannin marks under the Hall Gardens trees are quoted as extra time where they need separate treatment.

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One to two years on the estates, yearly for shaded paths

Every one to two years for sound block and concrete drives on the estates, which is the usual cycle once a surface has been brought back properly. Annually for anything permanently shaded: north-facing drives behind a garage wing, side paths and steps, where algae is a slip risk as much as an appearance problem. Paths near the Hall Gardens want the annual interval too, because of the tannin and the tree litter. Spring is the natural slot, once the winter growth has shown itself.