Driveway Cleaning Cost

Driveway cleaning and sealing is one of those house cleaning jobs which is like gutter cleaning and chimney sweeping. It is important to maintain the upkeep of your home and prevent further issues to happen in the course of time. Power washing the driveway is important to prevent build up of moss and weeds which can break up the base of the driveway, but also to maintain the curb appeal of your home which is vital if you are considering selling houses.

Apparently, any advert you get for cleaning a driveway is going to alter depending on the size of your driveway rigour to which it needs cleaning. Nevertheless, the average cost for cleaning a driveway in the UK is roughly £300 inclusive with rough labour cost and potential sealing.

However, if you are looking for a quick jet wash only to brighten up your tarmac or stonework driveway, then it should not be too expensive a job and will be by all odds done at a cheaper rate around £75-120. However, if your driveway has been neglected for a period of time and needs some serious cleaning, the price can increase. Even with a less big drive, if it needs proper washing and sealing, after the labour charge is added upon, you should be looking at roughly £250 or more and higher amounts for a larger surface area.

Generally, the total cost for cleaning a tarmac or concrete driveway is between £50 and £600 while that of a block paving is around £63 to £675. Meanwhile, all these costs heavily depend on some variable factors which will be discussed down the line.

Factors That Can Affect The Driveway Cleaning Cost

There are some factors that can affect the cost of cleaning your driveway, aside from that it is always worth taking the time to look for tradesmen to see how price changes.

Few people may try to undersell competition but this might come with the sacrifice of the quality of the job. Below are the factors to keep in mind when budgeting for cleaning a driveway.

Size Of The Driveway

The bigger the driveway, the more materials, water and energy to be used. And this will increase the length of time it will take to finish it up. As most driveway cleaning jobs will be quoted in square metres, the price you pay will be mainly affected by your driveway size.

Driveway Type

There are various types of driveways including concrete, resin, block paving and tarmac. A resin driveway requires different maintenance to a standard driveway. In general, block paving is ever so slightly more expensive than a tarmac or concrete driveway, because there is more work involved with preparation and finishing with a block paved driveway compared to other types. You can expect to pay between £0.50 to £1.00 or more per square metre and more for block paving compared with tarmac and concrete driveways. It is important to keep in mind that most driveway cleaning companies will charge additional fees for re-sanding the block paving after cleaning, which can cost anywhere up to an additional £4.50 to £6.50 per square metre.

Moss And Weed Removal

Moss and weed removal is a necessary thing to do before cleaning a driveway to give it a more professional finish. Additionally, it makes less mess during the cleaning process. Often, companies will charge up to £5.00 per square metre for moss and weed removal, so it is worth considering doing this yourself before getting cleaning quotes so as to reduce the overall cost.

Resealing A Tarmac Or Concrete Driveway

Resealing a tarmac driveway will cost around £4.50 per square metre, re-sanding a driveway will cost more and usually include sand at £6 to £8.00 per square metre approximately.

Diesel And Oil Stain Removal

Diesel or oil stains on the driveway can be unsightly and extremely difficult to remove. The cost to remove oil stains from a driveway is between £14 .50 to £16 per job. However, this is usually suitable for only a single oil stain, multiple or more extensive stains may cost more to remove.

Metered Or Unmetered Water

Most driveway cleaning contractors will use their own onboard tank to clean the drive and this will be factored into the price. However, check with them that they have and use an onboard tank to know if they will use your water or theirs. This is particularly important if you have a water metre in your home.

DIY Or Tradesman

DIY driveway cleaning is possible with a simple jet washer. However, the finish you get may not be as good as a professional. Also keep in mind that you will usually pay around twice what it would cost you to do the job.

Condition

The more dirty your driveway is, the more extensive the cleaning job will be. If the surface is just bad due to some natural weathering like regular accumulated dirt, grease and rubber marks from your car. It should not bother you much. However if the surface is covered with moss, weed, or oil stains, it will require a strong washing and obviously consume more time. But if you choose to add sealing to the surface which will make your driveway to last longer, more cost will be involved.

Labour

Every tradesman has a different price point, but putting the size of your driveway into consideration as well as putting into budget labour and the estimated time it will take to clean it from beginning to ending, you can begin by guessing who will provide the most cost-effective service. Instead, you can choose to DIY, which will insinuate that you have to pay for materials, equipment and a bit more on your energy bill.

Location

Your location can make things more perplexing if you are paying for a professional service. Whereas this may not be as worrisome as having a load of building materials driven down to a rural home in the countryside, you may still meet people charging the same for a call out fee, if your driveway cleaner is not the local one. It is the same just as with the set living wage and in essence everything in the capital, for instance, if you live in London you can look forward to paying a small premium. You should be looking at on the average, another £25-50 on top of a typical total, although as usual these figures are likely to vary from business to business.

Time Needed To Complete The Driveway Cleaning Job

To clean a spotted and soiled concrete driveway, you will need something that will as well sink in and lift offending spots. Covering the stains with sawdust, baking soda and other absorbent material can take care of fresh surface spills, but work very little to absorb what sinks below the surface. Trisodium phosphate(TSP) is popularly used to clean oil off your driveway. It is a strong alkaline, so it will not harm the surface but it could cause skin irritation and even burns. TSP is also very hazardous for the environment. If it ends up in lakes and streams, the phosphate triggers an overgrowth of algae that turns out to be depleting oxygen levels in water, which can endanger fishes and other aquatic life. To maintain the initial brighter colour of a driveway a lot of homeowners turn to cleaning with bleach, but it is not advisable to power wash with bleach because it can damage your pressure washer. It is suggested to use simple green oxy solve concrete and driveway cleaner with a power washer for manual cleaning of concrete surfaces like driveways, sidewalks, patios, and walkways. It improves the look of oil stains and removes grease, dirt, and other discoloration while still being non-corrosive and non-degrading as well. Its biodegradable formula is safe for lawns and pressure washing equipment alike.

Frequent cleaning of at least once every year or every six months can help maintain your home’s curb appeal.

Directions For Cleaning A Driveway

Before cleaning, hose down your driveway and allow it to dry. Also wet all close by plants, shrugs, and grass with water. If your surface is stamped or colored and you are going to be making use of a pressure washer, test your surface compatibility in an invisible area with and without a cleaner.

• Prepare your pressure washer – pour in some full strength TSP solution into your pressure washer detergent tank.
• Apply the TSP solution – use the low-pressure spray nozzle to apply the mixture to the driveway and let it sit for 7-10 minutes. Do not allow it to dry out before rinsing off, work in sections if it is important to achieve this.
• Rinse the driveway – Remove the syphon tube from the tank and rinse off at high pressure setting.
• Rinse surroundings landscaping – when the cleaning is completed, use a garden hose to rinse plants, shrubs, and grass and water-in any foam or puddle of cleaner and water.

Manual Application

• Prepare your mixture; mix 2 cups of the solution with a gallon of water in a separate container.
• Scrub; Scrub the area in different sections using a soft bristle brush or deck brush. Do not use a metal brush, as it could shed tiny little fibres that can eventually leave rust spots.
• Soak; let the solution rest on the surface for 5-7 mins. Do not allow the solution to dry before rinsing or it will be difficult to remove.
• Rinse; rinse with a garden hose, at the highest possible pressure
• Repeat again; move to a new section and repeat the same thing over again until you are done with cleaning the surface.

• Deal with grease and oil: Soak up any spot of excess grease or oil spills with saw-dust or cat-litter.
• Use chemicals: Pre-treat the driveway with a pressure washer detergent or degreaser as needed. It is a good idea to let the cleaning mixture sit for around 7-10mins before power washing to ensure the best results.
• Pressure wash: Position the high pressure stream over the entire surface of the driveway, removing dirt and grind along the way. When you are through, your driveway will look as good as brand new again. There are few choices you have once you start using a pressure washer. If you have a few questions about which nozzle or accessories you need for pressure washing, the most popular configuration is to put a 26(green) nozzle to the end of your pressure washer gun, this will help remove dirt and sweep as well, as you proceed. For things like gums and pitch, a 15(yellow) nozzle is just perfect, because this Nozzle can be used inform of a chisel to scrape things off the driveway. If you want to fasten up the process even more , there are few pressure washer attachments that can still be of assistance they are:
• Water Broom – this pressure washer attachment will have different nozzles lined up along a bar to clean a larger area in one pass. Water brooms have castors that keep the nozzles the same height over the surface while pressure washing the driveways. This means that you will not get the striping related to holding the tip at varying heights above your surface.
• Rotary Turbo Nozzle – a rotary nozzle will focus the water into a very fine stream, but regularly rotate the stream in order to cover a wider surface. This is very useful when cleaning concrete, bricks, pavers and even houses too. Covering a wider area means that pressure washing driveways will take fewer passes and less time unlike the water broom that can wash a driveway in one passing with less time.
• Surface cleaner – this is the fastest choice for pressure washing driveways. These machines have 2 or 3 nozzles attached to the extreme of a rotary arm that spins covering areas of 8 inches all the way up to 30 inches. Pressure washer surface cleaners have handles for you to hold onto, allowing you to simply push them over the entire driveway cleaning as you move. Like a water broom, a surface cleaner can get rid of zebra striping by keeping your nozzles at a uniformed height during the whole time cleaning process.

Conclusion

With the discussions in this article, we believe that it has given you an insight or help to identify whether your driveway requires cleaning or not and how much you can spend for your driveway cleaning. You can always work with what your budget allows, considering that there are several options and many ways to give your driveway a new lease of life.