Patio Cleaning in Great Linford

Great Linford has plenty of mature trees and established hedging, which make for pleasant gardens but very shaded patios. Shade is what moss and algae like most. A patio that never quite dries out after rain turns green in a matter of months, and the slime that builds up can make it slippery underfoot.

Leaves are the other issue. When they sit on paving through autumn, they release tannins that leave brown and orange marks, especially on paler stone and concrete. Tree sap and bird droppings add their own marks under certain trees. These stains are different from general dirt and need a pre-treatment before washing.

On a heavily shaded patio, we usually start by scraping and sweeping off the thick moss so the cleaning can reach the stone underneath. A rotary cleaner then lifts the green film evenly from concrete flags or porcelain. Sandstone gets a gentler wash and more reliance on the pre-treatment, so the surface is not damaged.

Tree roots can lift slabs at the edges of a patio, and that often becomes obvious once the surface is clean. We note any rocking or raised slabs so you know what to watch, rather than hiding them under a fresh looking finish.

If your garden backs onto mature trees that may be protected, cleaning the patio is not normally an issue, but any work that involves digging near roots is worth checking with Milton Keynes City Council first. Cleaning itself stays on the surface.

Shade also changes how long a patio takes to dry after cleaning. A sunny paving area may be dry within the hour, but under a canopy of trees it can stay damp into the evening. We plan the order of work with that in mind, finishing the darkest corners first so they have the most time to dry before you want to use them.

Bird droppings under roosting trees deserve a mention of their own. They can etch some stones if left for long, and they tend to gather in the same spot every year. A pre-treatment softens them before washing, and a regular sweep under that branch afterwards keeps the patch from building up again.

Hedges along the boundary drop clippings and dust onto the paving after each trim, and those sit in the joints and feed weeds. If the hedge is due a cut, it is worth doing it before the patio clean rather than after, so the fresh surface is not covered again within a week.