Services
Most drives round here do not need relaying. What has gone flat and grey is dirt sitting on the surface, not worn out blocks, and it washes off. I clean block paving and imprinted concrete, take the growth out of the joints, and reseal where that is what it wants.
People ring me about a drive once they have started pricing up a new one. Concrete block paving is coloured the whole way through, so once the top layer of grime and algae is off, what comes back is the colour it was laid in.
Imprinted concrete is different. Its colour is in a surface layer, so it fades for real over the years rather than just dirtying, which is why that one sometimes wants its colour putting back rather than only washing.
Size is the obvious thing and it is not the main one. A drive twice the size is not twice the money, because a good part of any day goes on setting up, shifting cars and getting water to the work.
What moves it is how long since anyone touched it, because a light green film lifts in one pass and twenty years of ground-in dirt takes several. Then the surface, because block paving and imprinted concrete want different handling. Then the fall of the ground, which decides where the dirty water ends up. And whether you want it sealed, which is a separate visit.
No price list, and no figure until I have stood on it. The quote is free.
The wash
The whole surface taken back evenly, not just the worst patches. A drive cleaned in stripes looks worse than one left alone.
The joints
Growth taken out of the joints rather than washed flat. Left in, it is back by spring and the drive looks untouched by summer.
Colour, where it has genuinely gone
Imprinted concrete can have its colour put back where it has faded off. Block paving usually does not need it, and I will say so.
The seal
Holds the colour and slows the green coming back. It goes on once the slab is dry, which is why it follows a few days later.
Sealing is not automatic
Plenty of people sell the seal as standard. It goes on top of whatever is underneath, so the drive has to be sound and properly dry first. Where it is, a seal is worth having and it holds the colour a lot longer. Where it is not, you are paying to lock a problem in. I will tell you which yours is rather than adding it to every quote.
It comes back to its real colour, which is usually a lot better than people expect but is not a showroom finish. Old oil, tyre scuffs and cement splashes from when the house was built may not lift completely. I will tell you what I think will shift before I start.
Depends mostly on light and trees. An open, sunny drive stays clean for years. One under a hedge on the north side of the house greens up faster whatever anyone does to it. A seal buys you longer either way.
Yes, and it is the same job in the same materials, so it makes sense to do them on one visit rather than pay twice to get set up. Steps and edging come up the same way.
Eventually, because the seed lands in the joints from above rather than growing up through the drive. Taking it out properly rather than flattening it buys years instead of months, and a seal makes the joints less hospitable.
Drives are weather work. The wash is fine in most conditions, but sealing wants a dry slab and a dry forecast, so in a wet spell it waits rather than getting rushed on. Spring and late summer are the straightforward windows.
Mexborough and twenty miles around it, so Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley and Sheffield along with the Dearne Valley towns closer in. Plenty of drives get done on the same visit as the gutters, which saves paying for two set-ups. That is gutter clearing, The other six are on the services page.
If it is past cleaning, I will say so. A drive that has sunk in the wheel tracks, or where the blocks have started to rock and lift, wants laying again rather than washing, and laying drives is not what I do. You would rather hear that from me than pay to have a failing drive made briefly shiny.
Ring or message 07515 154559 with a photo from the end of the drive. Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
I come out and look before I price anything. Free quote, no call out fee.