Surface cleaning that takes pine tannin, algae and oil out of concrete and pavers without leaving wand stripes behind.
Most Bluffton driveways are not dirty so much as stained, and the stain usually is not oil. It is tannin: the brown leach that comes out of pine needles, oak leaves and mulch when they sit wet on concrete. A pile of pine straw left in a corner of the drive for a fortnight after a storm will print itself onto the surface, and no amount of hosing will take it off, because by then it is in the pores rather than on top of them.
Concrete is porous. That is the whole problem. Growth and staining root into the surface instead of sitting on it, which is why a driveway responds to the right cleaner and a surface cleaner, and barely responds at all to a garden hose.
Bluffton lots run bigger than island lots, and the driveways run longer with them. That matters for how the work is done. Cleaning a long drive with a wand leaves zebra striping, the alternating light and dark bands you see on half the driveways in any neighbourhood, and once they are there the only fix is doing the whole slab again properly.
We use a surface cleaner, which holds a constant distance and even pressure across the full width, so the result is uniform from the garage to the street. Pavers get a lower pressure and a different approach again, because blasting a paver drive strips the joint sand and leaves you with a settling problem a season later.
Downtown the surfaces change. Brick walks, tabby and older poured concrete around Old Town will not take the pressure that a 2015 subdivision driveway shrugs off, and the mortar between older brick is usually the first thing to go. Those get cleaned at lower pressure with more reliance on the solution and more patience, which takes longer and is the right way to do it.
If you are not sure what you have, send a photo to (843) 564-2880 and we will tell you what the surface is and how it should be handled before anyone turns up.
Twice a year suits most, usually once after the spring pollen and once in autumn when the leaves and needles have finished dropping. Shaded drives under pine or oak go green faster and may want attention more often.
Usually yes. Those are tannin stains and they respond to the right cleaner rather than to more pressure. Very old tannin that has been sitting for years can leave a faint ghost, and we will tell you honestly if we think that is what you are looking at.
Not the way we do it. Pavers get lower pressure and a different technique, specifically so the joint sand stays where it belongs. High pressure on pavers is how you end up with settling and weeds the following year.
Most of them, with a degreaser and dwell time rather than brute force. Fresh oil comes up well. Old oil that has soaked deep into porous concrete may lighten considerably rather than vanish, and we would rather tell you that up front.
Yes, and it is almost always worth doing together. The setup is the slow part of the job, so adding the walkway and patio to a driveway visit costs much less than booking them separately.
Low-pressure cleaning for siding, stucco and Hardie.
Debris clearing, downspout flushing and gutter brightening.
The things that actually move a quote up or down.
Free, no-obligation driveway and concrete estimates across greater Bluffton.
Get a Free Estimate