Sheldon Driveway and Patio Cleaning for Long Side Drives
Most houses on this estate have a drive running down the side, which is unusual enough in Birmingham to shape the whole job. It also means the surface is rarely one thing. The typical B26 drive is original 1930s concrete nearest the pavement, widened or re-laid in block paving at some point since, and finishing at a rear hardstanding or a garage. Three surfaces, three right answers about pressure, and getting that wrong is how blocks work loose.
The second job on these plots is at the back. Many Sheldon houses have a conservatory, usually with a patio or a paved apron wrapped round it, sitting in the shade of the conservatory itself for half the day. That area behaves quite differently from the open drive: it stays damp, it takes the drip line off the conservatory gutter, and along the country park edge it collects leaf tannin that stains rather than simply sits.
- Service
- Patio & Driveway Cleaning
- Area covered
- Sheldon, B26
- Local authority
- Birmingham
- 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 (common questions)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
Green edges along the house wall and the fence
On a Sheldon drive the car keeps the middle reasonably clear, and the trouble collects in the strip down each edge. One side runs against the house wall and one against the boundary fence, both permanently shaded, and that is where moss builds into a green band you can lift in sheets. On a good many of these plots the drive also falls very slightly back towards the house, so silt and organic matter travel towards the house. Add the oil and tyre marking at the parking end, weed growth in the joints of the block-paved section, and the leaf staining on the rear patio, and the surface reads as neglected long before it actually is.
- Permanently shaded strips against the house wall and the boundary fence, where moss builds into a liftable green band
- Drives that fall slightly back towards the house, carrying silt and organic matter to the wall instead of the road
- Original 1930s concrete meeting later block paving on the same run, needing two different pressures on one drive
- Oil and tyre marking concentrated at the parking end of the drive
- The patio round the conservatory, shaded and fed by the conservatory drip line, with leaf tannin on the park-edge plots
Every surface on a long side drive checked first
We identify every surface on the run before anything is switched on, because a Sheldon drive is usually more than one. Sound concrete and block paving take rotary pressure cleaning at full working pressure. Tarmac and anything meeting painted render at the base of the house wall get a reduced setting, and the joints are cleared of moss and weed as part of the work. The last stage matters here more than most places: silt thrown up off a drive lands on the bay glass and the conservatory side panels, so we rinse those down at the end, and if your windows are due we do them after the drive, never before.
- Every surface on the run identified first, since original concrete and later block paving rarely want the same pressure
- Joints cleared of moss and weed, with re-sanding quoted separately where the joints need it
- Reduced pressure where the drive meets render at the base of the house wall, so nothing is driven into the wall
- Bay glass and conservatory side panels rinsed down at the end, and any window clean scheduled after the drive, not before
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: how we do patio & driveway cleaning, step by step.
Side drives, front paths and the patio behind
A Sheldon booking is usually three areas rather than one: the side drive from pavement to rear hardstanding, the short front path up to the bay and porch, and the patio wrapped round the conservatory. Spring is the season, once the winter growth has shown itself, and because these drives sit side by side, one clean one makes the next four look poor. Streets along the country park boundary carry more leaf staining than the estate interior. Sheldon is covered on set days, so booking ahead is the way to get a spring date. Access is the easiest part of the whole job: we work off your own hardstanding and never need to close a road or run hose across a pavement.
Length, not width, in a Sheldon side drive quote
Area and condition set the number, and on this estate area means length. A Sheldon side drive runs the full depth of the plot, so it is often larger than the patio and the front path combined, and worth measuring properly. Two other things move the figure. A drive that is part original concrete and part block paving takes two methods and therefore two set-ups. And washing block paving flushes the jointing sand up out of the joints, so re-sanding is quoted separately when the joints need it, and you see it in the quote. Running the drive on the same day as the gutters and the conservatory roof saves a second set-up.
Yearly for the shaded strips, every year or two for the rest
Every one to two years does most of a Sheldon drive, but the shaded strips against the wall and the fence want doing annually, because they never dry out properly and the moss is back within the year however well it came off. The patio behind the conservatory is on the same annual footing for the same reason. Spring is the natural slot for all of it, once winter has shown you what has grown, and it pairs neatly with the gutter and conservatory visit.
Excellent job, highly recommended.
First time customer. Excellent service and great job. Will definitely be using them again in the future.
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Sheldon · Patio & Driveway Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
By area and condition, which on a Sheldon plot amounts to much the same thing, because these drives run the full depth of the house and then some. It is very often the largest single surface on the property, larger than the patio and the front path put together, so we measure it.
Because that strip never gets sun. It has the house wall on one side or the fence on the other shading it all day, so it stays damp when the middle of the drive has dried. It cleans off completely, but that edge is an annual job even when the rest of the drive can wait a second year.
Some spray, yes, which is why rinsing down the bay glass and the conservatory side panels is part of the job. If you are having the windows done too, we deliberately schedule them after the drive. Doing it the other way round wastes the window clean.
Usually, yes, on the block section. Washing flushes the kiln-dried sand up out of the joints, and once it has gone the blocks begin to shift under the weight of a car. Re-sanding is quoted separately when the joints need it, and on a drive that is half old concrete and half block, only the block section is affected.
Mostly, yes: usually a marked improvement, and sometimes total on a fresh spill. Oil that has been soaking into 1930s concrete for years lightens a long way but rarely disappears altogether. We will look at it and tell you which of those you have before you commit to anything.
Other cleaning we do in Sheldon
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