Northfield Driveway and Side Path Cleaning for B31 Semis
Nearly every house in Northfield has a drive, most of them concrete cast decades ago or block paving laid over the top later, and nearly all have picked up the same three things: moss along the edges and in the joints, oil under where the car sits, and black tyre scrub where it turns in. Lift those and the house looks different from the road for a fraction of what any other work would cost.
The side path is the other half of the job and the part people underrate. These semis run a path down the flank to the back garden, usually narrow, usually shaded by the neighbouring house for most of the day, and usually green. That is a slip risk first and an appearance problem second, particularly for an older resident, and it is the piece to tackle first if you are only doing one thing this year.
- Service
- Patio & Driveway Cleaning
- Area covered
- Northfield, B31
- Local authority
- Birmingham
- How we do it
- Rotary flat surface cleaner at a pressure the surface can take
- From our Selly Oak base
- About 12 minutes
- Price
- Quoted per property before we start (what the quote covers)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
Sunless side paths and standing water on B31 drives
Shade and standing water do the damage here. A side path with a wall on one hand and a house on the other sees almost no sun between October and March, so algae sits on it permanently and a wet morning makes it treacherous. Drives have their own list: concrete laid in the sixties and seventies is porous and takes engine oil deep, block paving from the nineties has lost its jointing sand and grown moss and weeds in the gaps, and both collect a black rubber scuff where the car turns. Then there is the render. On a pebbledash house the drive usually runs right up to the wall, which changes what can safely be pointed at it.
- Long side paths in permanent shade between house and boundary, algae-covered and slippery underfoot
- Porous 1960s and 70s concrete that has taken engine oil deep into the surface
- Block paving with the jointing sand long gone, so moss and weeds have filled the gaps
- Black tyre scrub where the car turns onto the drive, which general washing does not shift
- Pebbledash and roughcast running down to the drive, which will not take a lance pointed at it
Concrete, block or tarmac identified before anything runs
Nothing is switched on until we know what we are standing on, because concrete, block paving and tarmac are three different jobs. Sound concrete and block get rotary cleaning, which gives an even finish without the striping you get from waving a lance about. Oil and tyre scrub are treated as separate stain work first, since general washing shifts neither. Pressure drops right down as we approach the base of the wall so nothing is driven into the pebbledash, and the render is rinsed, never blasted. The silt we lift goes away with us instead of being pushed into a pile at the end of the drive.
- Surface identified first, with rotary cleaning on sound concrete and block in place of a hand lance
- Oil and tyre scrub treated as stain work in their own right before the general clean
- Pressure dropped right down where the drive meets pebbledash, so nothing is forced into the render
- The cost of putting kiln-dried sand back raised before we start, since cleaning block empties the joints
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: how we do patio & driveway cleaning, step by step.
Drives, side paths and pre-sale jobs
Two moments tend to prompt this in B31. The first is a household looking at the drive after a wet winter, usually in March or April, when the state of it is hard to ignore. The second is pre-sale: the house is going on the market and the owner wants the drive, side path and patio looking right before the photographs. At about twelve minutes from Selly Oak, a slot within the week is usually possible.
Drive, path and patio priced from photographs of a Northfield semi
Area and condition set the price, and both are easy enough to judge from photographs. A standard drive and side path on a Northfield semi is one of our more affordable jobs, and adding the patio makes sense, because we are already set up and the second surface costs far less than a separate booking. Where the number moves is old oil and old moss. Oil that soaked into porous concrete over a decade will lighten a great deal without vanishing, and we say that before starting, not after. Block paving needs kiln-dried sand back in the joints once cleaned, or the blocks work loose, and that is a genuine cost we raise at the quote.
Drives every one to two years, the side path every year
Every one to two years covers most B31 drives. The side path wants doing annually, because permanent shade brings the algae back within the year and the interval there is about not falling over. March and April are the obvious months, once a wet winter has made the state of it plain to see. Pre-sale jobs are their own thing and the agent dictates the timing: get it done before the photographs are taken, not after the first viewing.
Charles was great. He was very professional and did a great job.
Excellent job, highly recommended.
Great services delivered by Charles recommend for others
Northfield · Patio & Driveway Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
It comes down to area and how bad it is, and we give you a fixed price before starting with no hourly rate. A standard concrete or block drive on a B31 semi is one of the cheaper jobs we do, and adding the side path and the patio to the same visit costs much less than booking them separately, because the setup is already done.
Mostly. Fresher oil usually comes out completely. Oil that has been soaking into a porous sixties drive since the car before last will lighten substantially without disappearing, and anybody promising otherwise is guessing. We tell you which one you have at the quote, so you can decide whether it is worth the money.
No, because the pressure comes right down as we approach the wall. A lance held at full pressure against roughcast strips the aggregate off it and drives water into the render, and that turns a cleaning job into a damp problem. We rinse the bottom of the wall and never blast at it.
Yes, and it is the part to prioritise. A shaded path between two houses holds algae all winter, which makes it a fall risk before it is a cosmetic issue. Cleaning it properly buys you a safe year, after which it starts creeping back, and that is why the path sits on a shorter interval than the drive does.
A week or so, so the concrete has dried back to its true colour and any fresh sand in the block joints has settled. Drive, side path and patio can go in one visit, timed to land before the estate agent turns up with a camera.
Other cleaning we do in Northfield
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