Great Barr Driveway, Apron and Patio Cleaning in One Visit
Almost every house in Great Barr has a driveway. The 1930s plots are generous, the parking is on-plot, and a run from the pavement to a detached garage at the back is a real area of hard surface, far more than a token strip beside the door. That is a substantial job in its own right, and it makes sense to book the drive, the garage apron and the rear patio as a single visit.
The thing to get right is where the hard surface meets the house. On these semis the drive runs up alongside a rendered or pebbledashed flank wall, and a pressure washer aimed anywhere near it takes the surface off and drives water into the wall behind. So we change method at that boundary: rotary cleaning out on sound concrete and block paving, soft-wash on anything close to render and on older path tile.
- Service
- Patio & Driveway Cleaning
- Area covered
- Great Barr, B42, B43 and B44
- Local authority
- Birmingham, Sandwell and Walsall
- How we do it
- Rotary flat surface cleaner at a pressure the surface can take
- From our Selly Oak base
- About 30 minutes
- Price
- Quoted per property before we start (what the quote covers)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
A green strip down the shaded flank of the plot
The shaded flank of a Great Barr plot stays damp most of the year, and that is where the green shows first, usually the strip of drive between house and boundary fence and the paving right outside the back door. The garage apron is the other trouble spot, because that is where the car actually stands, so oil marks and tyre rubber concentrate into a couple of square metres. Block paving on the newer drives loses its jointing sand over time and grows moss and weed in the gaps. Add road grit blowing off the A34 on that side of the suburb and a drive looks tired well before it is worn out.
- Shaded strips down the flank of the plot that stay damp and green up first
- Garage aprons carrying oil marks and tyre rubber concentrated into a very small area
- Moss and weed growth in block paving joints where the kiln-dried sand has washed out
- Rendered and pebbledashed flank walls that the drive runs against, which pressure washing wrecks
- Road grit off the A34 settling on drives near the Scott Arms and the M6 approach
Block paving, concrete apron, slab path: three surfaces on one plot
We establish what the surface is before anything is switched on, because a single plot here can carry three of them: block paving at the front, concrete on the apron, and slab or original path tile round the back. Sound concrete and block paving get rotary pressure cleaning at the right setting, with the joints cleared of moss and weed. Anything within reach of render, pebbledash or the base of a conservatory is soft-washed instead, killing the growth chemically and rinsing away without forcing water into the wall. The displaced silt leaves with us.
- Rotary cleaning on sound concrete and block paving, soft-wash wherever the surface meets render
- Garage apron oil and tyre marks treated separately, since general washing will not lift them
- Re-sanding on block paving quoted separately when the joints need it
- Adjacent walls, garage doors and the conservatory base rinsed down, and displaced silt taken away
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: the full patio & driveway cleaning process.
Drive, apron and patio in one visit
Spring is the season, and the sensible pattern is drive, garage apron, the side path and the rear patio all on one visit, since the equipment is set up anyway and splitting them over two calls costs you more. Neighbours on the same street can be grouped onto the same day. We cover the Birmingham, Sandwell and Walsall parts of the suburb identically, so a Pheasey drive and a Hamstead drive are quoted the same way.
Long drives mean area weighs heavily here
Area and condition set the price, and the plots here are big enough that area weighs heavily. A long drive back to a detached garage is more square metres than a front-to-pavement strip, so we measure rather than guess. Two things we always raise before starting. Cleaning block paving can take kiln-dried sand out of the joints, and re-sanding is quoted separately when they need it. And old oil soaked into porous concrete on a garage apron lightens a great deal without always disappearing.
A spring visit covering drive, apron and patio together
Once a year in spring suits most Great Barr plots, taken as one visit covering the drive, the apron and the patio together. Stretch to every other year if your drive is open, sunny and lightly used. Keep it annual where the drive runs down the shaded flank of the house, or where the back patio sits between a conservatory and a fence, because that is where the algae returns fastest and where a slippery surface is a real hazard rather than an eyesore.
Charles was great. He was very professional and did a great job.
Great services delivered by Charles recommend for others
Nice man great at what he does
Great Barr · Patio & Driveway Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
Yes, and it works out cheaper that way because the set-up is the same either way. Booked that way, we come once in spring and do the front drive, the apron in front of the garage, the side path and the rear patio, and that is the year covered.
Yes, if anyone points one at it. High pressure takes the surface off render and pebbledash along with the green, and pushes water into the wall behind. We soft-wash the paving next to render, and keep the rotary machine for sound concrete and block paving out on the drive.
Yes, where they need it, quoted separately. Cleaning block paving lifts some of the kiln-dried sand out of the joints, and without it the blocks begin to move and the weeds return faster. We price it at the quote, before the machine is ever unloaded.
Partly, yes: it will lighten considerably, and recent marks often go completely. Oil that has been soaking into porous concrete for years under the same parked car is a different matter, and we will look and tell you which you have at the quote.
All of it. B42, B43 and B44, which means the Birmingham, Sandwell and Walsall stretches alike. If yours is the street that always seems to fall outside somebody’s area, send us the postcode. The council boundary has no bearing on our price or our schedule.
Other cleaning we do in Great Barr
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