Perry Barr Driveway and Patio Cleaning for the Older Semis
Most of the drive and patio work in Perry Barr is on the older streets. The interwar and post-war semis off the A34 almost all have a driveway, many of them widened or relaid at some point, plus a rear garden with a patio and a side path down to it. Block paving, concrete and tarmac in various states of repair make up most of the hard surface on these streets, and spring is the time to book, once people can see what the winter has grown in the joints.
On the Residential Scheme we will often tell you to wait. Drives, parking courts and paths laid from 2022 onwards have barely weathered, the kiln-dried sand in the joints is still full, and washing a two-year-old drive mostly achieves stripping that sand out early. Where we do work on the new quarter it is usually communal: shared paths, parking courts and the ground around bin stores, booked through the managing agent.
- Service
- Patio & Driveway Cleaning
- Area covered
- Perry Barr, B42
- Local authority
- Birmingham
- How we do it
- Rotary flat surface cleaner at a pressure the surface can take
- From our Selly Oak base
- About 28 minutes
- Price
- Quoted per property before we start (what the quote covers)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
Shaded steps and road grit on the older streets
Shade and road grit between them do most of the damage on the older streets. A north-facing side path or a set of steps down to a rear garden stays damp for most of the year and greens up into a real slip hazard, well beyond an eyesore, and that is the part worth doing first. Out at the front, an A34 frontage catches road grit and the same oily film that lands on the windows, which washes down onto the drive apron and works into the joints with the moss. Older concrete carries leaf tannin staining, and any drive with a car parked in the same spot for a decade has oil to go with it.
- North-facing side paths and garden steps that stay damp and turn slippery
- Moss and weed growth in the joints of block paving laid decades ago
- Road grit and oily film off the A34 washing onto frontage drives and into the joints
- Leaf tannin and oil staining on older concrete, particularly where a car always sits in the same place
- Communal parking courts, shared paths and bin store surrounds on the scheme, booked by the agent
Rotary cleaning on sound surfaces, treatment on shaded ones
We identify the surface before anything is switched on. Sound concrete and established block paving take rotary pressure cleaning, which is the fastest way to an even finish without the stripes a lance leaves. Tarmac gets noticeably less pressure, because it loosens if you hit it hard. Shaded paths and steps are treated, not blasted, so the algae is killed off and rinsed away instead of being driven into the surface. Joints are cleared, and re-sanding is quoted separately where they need it, raised at quoting stage before the drive is ever opened up.
- Surface identified first, with rotary cleaning kept to sound concrete and established block paving
- Reduced pressure on tarmac, and a treat-and-rinse approach on shaded paths and garden steps
- Joints cleared of moss and weed, with re-sanding quoted separately where they need it
- Frontage walls, doors and windows rinsed down, and displaced silt carted away, never left at the kerb
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: patio & driveway cleaning across Birmingham.
Drives off the A34 and courts on the new estate
The work runs through the semis on the roads off the A34, out towards Perry Hall Park and the Great Barr and Handsworth Wood edges of B42. Spring is the season, and because one clean drive on a street of identical frontages shows from the pavement, neighbours booking together makes sense. B42 is covered on set days, so several drives on one street can be done in the same visit. If an event is on at Alexander Stadium, say so when you book, because we need to get a van and a hose reel to the front of the house.
Area, condition and years of rooted weed
Area and condition set it, and the variables are worth naming. A drive kept on a two-year cycle is quick. One that has been green for a decade with rooted weed in every joint takes far longer and may need treating as well as cleaning. Where cleaning leaves block paving joints short of kiln-dried sand, re-sanding is quoted separately, and it is in the quote from the start. Old oil that has soaked into porous concrete lightens substantially without vanishing. Neighbours on the same street can book for the same day.
Every one to two years, with side paths yearly
Every one to two years for a drive or patio on the older streets, done in spring once the winter growth has shown itself. Annually for north-facing side paths and garden steps, which is about safety more than looks. On the Residential Scheme, leave a new drive alone for its first few years and let the jointing sand settle, then bring it onto the same cycle. Communal parking courts on the blocks are generally an annual job on the agent’s schedule.
First time customer. Excellent service and great job. Will definitely be using them again in the future.
Nice man great at what he does
Great services delivered by Charles recommend for others
Perry Barr · Patio & Driveway Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
Probably not yet, and we would rather tell you that than take the booking. New block paving still has full kiln-dried sand in the joints, and cleaning it early mostly strips that out and brings forward a re-sand you did not need. Give it a few years unless something has actually stained it.
Usually, yes. Cleaning lifts kiln-dried sand out of established joints, and without it the blocks start to move and the weed comes back faster. Re-sanding is quoted separately, so it is in the quote conversation before we start.
Yes, on a frontage plot. Road grit and the same oily film that greys the glass wash down onto the drive apron and bind into the joints with the moss, so the first few metres nearest the road are usually the dirtiest part of a B42 drive.
Yes, and that is normally an instruction from the managing agent, not a resident, since the surface is communal. We quote it per building alongside the paths and the ground around the bin stores, and it usually fits the same visit as the communal cleaning.
It will lighten a great deal, and a fresh one often disappears completely. Oil that has soaked into porous concrete over years of the same car in the same spot improves rather than vanishes, and we show you which of those you have at the quote.
Other cleaning we do in Perry Barr
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