Selly Park Driveway and Tiled Path Cleaning, Matched to the Surface
A Selly Park front garden generally holds one of three things: a block paved drive, a gravel drive, or an original tiled path running up to the door. They need completely different handling and getting it wrong is expensive. Block paving is fine under a rotary head at a controlled pressure. A Victorian or Edwardian encaustic path is not, and a pressure lance is the quickest way anyone has yet found to lift the tiles and blow the bedding out from underneath them.
Gravel is the odd one out. It cannot be cleaned in any meaningful sense, because the dirt is in it and under it. What we can do is treat the weed and moss growing through it and clean the edging, kerbs and any paved strip crossing it. If the stone itself has gone green and silty, a top-up of fresh stone will do more than a machine, and we say that on the phone.
- Service
- Patio & Driveway Cleaning
- Area covered
- Selly Park, B29
- Local authority
- Birmingham
- How we do it
- Rotary flat surface cleaner at a pressure the surface can take
- From our Selly Oak base
- 5 minutes
- Price
- Quoted per property before we start (what the quote covers)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
Canopy shade, washed-out joints and slippery tile
Shade is the mechanism here. Selly Park plots are generous and heavily planted, so a lot of front and side surfaces sit under a canopy most of the day and never fully dry out. Algae then roots into the surface itself, and on smooth encaustic tile it turns properly slippery in a wet week, which matters because that tile is on the front steps and the path to your door. Round the back it is the same story on flagged patios in gardens facing north or dropping away towards the Rea. Block paving brings its own problem: moss and weed rooted in joints where the kiln dried sand has long since washed out.
- Original encaustic front paths and steps that go slippery under a canopy and cannot take a pressure lance
- Block paved drives with moss and weed rooted into joints where the sand has washed away
- Gravel drives, where the useful work is weed treatment and edging, with no machine involved
- Shaded, damp rear patios in well planted gardens and on the low ground near the River Rea
- Leaf tannin staining on flags and concrete, from the same garden trees that fill the gutters
Deciding the surface before any machine starts
Nothing gets switched on until we have established what the surface actually is, and in Selly Park that decision is half the job. Sound block paving and concrete take rotary pressure cleaning at a controlled pressure, joints cleared out, with kiln dried sand replacement quoted separately, before any work starts, when the joints need it. Original tile, stone steps and anything running hard against a rendered or painted wall get soft washing instead: the solution is laid on at low pressure, the algae dies off, and it rinses clear without lifting a tile or pushing water into the base of the wall.
- Surface identified and the method fixed before the machine comes off the van
- Soft wash only on original tiled paths, steps and anything sitting against a painted or rendered wall
- Rotary cleaning kept for sound block paving and concrete, with re-sanding quoted separately when the joints need it
- Displaced silt swept up and bagged for your garden waste bin, never washed into the border or heaped by your gate
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: our patio & driveway cleaning method.
Drives at the front, shade at the back
A common Selly Park pairing is a block paved drive at the front and a flagged patio at the back, done on one visit because the machine is already set up and the second surface then takes less time. Spring is the season, once the winter growth has shown itself. The original tiled paths are mostly on the older houses nearer the Edgbaston boundary. If you are thinking of replacing an original path, get the tiles looked at first: they are usually worth keeping and very hard to match.
Dwell time on tile and sand on block paving drive the quote
Area and condition set the price, but the method sets the time. Soft washing an original path is not the quick option: the solution needs dwell time, steps and edges are hand work, and a path green for years may want two applications, which we quote for at the start. On block paving the real cost people forget is the sand, because cleaning takes the kiln dried jointing sand out and it has to go back or the blocks work loose under a car. Old oil soaked into porous concrete lightens substantially without always disappearing.
Annual on shaded steps, every year or two on a block drive
Annually for a shaded front path or a flight of steps in Selly Park, and treat that as a safety interval as much as a cosmetic one, because algae under a canopy is back inside the year however well it was done. Block paved drives are usually fine at every one to two years. Rear patios on the damp side of a well planted garden want the annual treatment as well. Spring is the natural slot for all of it, once the winter growth has properly shown itself.
Charles was great. He was very professional and did a great job.
Nice man great at what he does
I’m very satisfied with the service I get
Selly Park · Patio & Driveway Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
No, and please do not let anybody else either. Encaustic path tiles are bedded on lime and sand, so a pressure lance blows the jointing out, chips the glaze off the edges and can lift whole tiles clean away. We soft wash them: a low pressure treatment that kills the algae off chemically and then rinses clear. Slower, and the path survives it.
Yes, some things, though probably not what you are hoping for. Gravel cannot be washed clean because the dirt sits in and under the stone. We can treat the weed and moss coming through it, clean the edging, kerbs and any paved strip, and tell you whether a top-up of fresh stone would achieve more than we can.
Usually, yes. Cleaning removes the kiln dried sand from the joints, and without it the blocks begin to rock and spread under the weight of a car. Re-sanding is quoted separately when the joints need it, so you see it as its own line before any work starts.
Because the planting on these plots keeps them shaded and damp, and that is exactly what algae wants. It will return annually whatever is used on it, which is why we suggest a yearly clean on steps specifically. It is the steps, more than the flat path, where a slip puts somebody on the floor.
Mostly. Tannin staining from the garden trees is what turns flags and concrete that grey-brown colour, and it responds well to the right treatment. Staining that has been through several winters will lighten a great deal without always vanishing, and we will tell you which of the two you have before you commit to anything.
Other cleaning we do in Selly Park
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