Driveways & Hard Surfaces
Driveway cleaning, surface-by-surface
Pressure clean for concrete, exposed aggregate, paving and stencilled finishes across the Northern Rivers. The right method for the surface you actually have.
Long concrete driveway with one half pressure-cleaned showing pale fresh concrete next to the dirty grey other half — placeholder until real photos loadThe mistake people make on driveway cleaning is using the same nozzle and pressure on every surface. Concrete takes a rotary surface-cleaner head; paving takes a detergent and a softer touch; exposed aggregate doesn’t want a turbo nozzle anywhere near it.
We work surface-by-surface. The rotary head on concrete gives an even pass without the wand-stripe pattern that screams “amateur job”. On paving, we use a fan nozzle and a paving detergent — never a turbo nozzle, which strips the sand from the joints and leaves the bricks loose. On exposed aggregate, low pressure and lots of patience.
Oil and tyre stains: most lift if treated properly with a degreaser dwell-time and then surface-cleaned. Some don’t. If they’ve been there for years and have soaked through into the substrate, we’ll tell you before we start that they may not fully come out. Honesty up front beats explaining later.
Where the joints between pavers have lost their sand, we’ll point that out — re-sanding is a quick add-on, but it’s a separate step we do after the surface is clean and dry. Cracks and movement joints we just photograph and put on the report.
The driveway gets washed before any resealing job. Sealer applied to a dirty surface doesn’t bond and fails fast. If you’re booking both, we’ll clean it, let it dry properly (at least 48 hours), then seal it.
When you need this
The reasons people call
- Concrete or paving is grey, mouldy, or streaked
- Oil and tyre stains visible from where the car parks
- Pre-sale presentation
- Before resealing — the surface has to be clean and dry for the sealer to bond
How we work
What actually happens
- Walk the driveway, identify the surface type and any deep stains
- Pre-treat oil and stubborn stains with a degreaser, let it dwell
- Surface-clean with a rotary head (concrete) or detergent and turbo nozzle (paving, exposed aggregate done carefully)
- Rinse, sweep the surrounds, check for any joints or cracks worth pointing out
What's included
In the quoted price
- Whole driveway plus path to the front door
- Oil-stain treatment (where stains lift; we tell you upfront which won't)
- Joint and crack inspection report
- Tidy-up of any sand or debris washed out
Honest about scope
What can go wrong, what's not included, what we check first
FAQ
Driveway Cleaning questions, answered
How long does the result actually hold up?
A pressure-cleaned concrete driveway looks fresh for twelve to eighteen months before the surface algae and mould start to creep back in. Sealing it afterwards extends that to three to five years. If you're going to seal it eventually, doing the clean and the seal together is much cheaper than doing them as two separate visits.
Will the rotary cleaner leave wand-stripe marks?
Not when it's used properly. The wand-stripe pattern that screams 'amateur job' comes from holding a single-jet wand at the wrong angle and overlapping unevenly. A rotary surface cleaner gives an even, uniform pass without leaving stripes. We use the rotary head on concrete and a softer fan nozzle on pavers and exposed aggregate.
Do you re-sand the paver joints after cleaning?
We can — it's a separate step done after the surface is clean and dry. Cleaning often washes out joint sand that was already loose, and topping it up with kiln-dried sand keeps the pavers locked together properly. We'll mention it on the quote so you can decide whether to add it on.
Related
Often booked together
Quote for driveway cleaning
Specific to this service. We'll come back with a written number within one business day.
Ready for a real number?
Phone is the fastest. Quote form if you'd rather write. Either way, you'll hear back with a written number, not a starting price.