Patio Cleaning in Stony Stratford

Some of the gardens behind Stony Stratford's older homes have paving that has been there for generations, from worn stone flags to soft red bricks. Others have newer sandstone or porcelain added more recently. The older materials need the most care, because they cannot always be replaced like for like if they are damaged.

Old natural stone is often softer and more porous than modern paving. Years of rain, leaves and shade leave it stained and green, with moss in the hollows worn by feet over decades. It is tempting to blast it clean, but that can strip away the weathered surface, round off edges and leave the stone looking raw and patchy. We start with a test patch in an out of the way corner, so you can see how the stone responds before we go further.

Where black spots appear on sandstone, they are lichen growing into the stone. They need a treatment that is given time to work, followed by a low pressure rinse. On softer stone, we lean towards gentle washing and hand work rather than high pressure.

Old brick paving has its own weak points. Bricks can spall if they are blasted, and the joints are often lime based or simply packed with soil, which washes away quickly. We keep the pressure down and treat the weeds in the joints separately so the bricks are not loosened.

If your home is listed or in the conservation area, cleaning is generally treated as maintenance, but changing materials or the look of a historic surface may be different. If in doubt, it is worth checking with Milton Keynes City Council before any work that goes beyond a straightforward clean. We are happy to talk this through at the visit.

Older gardens can also hide features worth keeping: a scrolled edging tile, a worn step threshold or a run of setts by the back gate. Once the moss is off, these often become a pleasing part of the space again. We point them out and take extra care around them, rather than treating the whole area as one flat surface to be blasted.

Gardens that have changed hands many times may also have a mixture of old and new paving laid side by side. Cleaning both evenly is harder than it sounds, because the new stone brightens quickly while the old stone keeps some of its patina. We talk through the likely look beforehand, so the contrast does not come as a surprise.