Concrete cleaned evenly, with no stripes left behind

Why so many driveways end up striped

A pressure washer wand throws a narrow, very aggressive fan. Run it across concrete by hand and you clean a stripe as wide as the fan, then you move over and clean the next one. Where the passes overlap the concrete gets cleaned twice. Where they do not quite meet, a dirty line survives. Once the slab dries, that pattern is permanent until the whole surface is redone.

A surface cleaner solves it. It is a shrouded head that spins two jets under a flat disc and covers a wide path at a consistent distance and a consistent speed. The result is one even finish across the whole slab rather than a record of where the operator happened to be standing. It is also considerably faster, which is the reason the finish costs no more.

What is included

• Driveways, including the apron and the strip out to the street where oil and road film collect
• Walkways and front steps, which are the first thing a visitor actually looks at
• Patios and pool decks, where algae film turns genuinely slick when it rains
• Edges and expansion joints cut in by hand, because a surface cleaner cannot reach the last inch against a wall or a bed
• A full rinse down of the slab and the surrounding area when the work is finished

Red clay, pollen and the shaded slab

Concrete around here takes on three separate problems and they do not all respond the same way. Cumberland County red clay works into the pores of the slab and leaves an orange cast that looks like part of the concrete until it comes off. Spring pollen leaves a yellow film that turns dark as it ages. And any slab that sits in shade, particularly under pines, grows the same algae that shows up on siding, which is what makes a patio slippery after rain.

They need different dwell times and, in the case of organic growth, a solution rather than force alone. Scrubbing harder is not the answer to a stain that has soaked in.

Getting a real number

Concrete is priced after a look, because square footage is only part of it. A slab that has never been cleaned takes longer than one done last year. A steep drive, a narrow side path or a pool deck with furniture on it all change the job. Estimates are free and there is no obligation attached to getting one.