Concrete Hardscapes Need Cleaning Too

Realtors often talk about “curb appeal” when selling your home, but the truth is, you want your home to look gorgeous while you’re living in it even if you have no intention of selling, right? The problem is, when people talk about curb appeal, they overlook one of the most obvious parts of it, which is their concrete driveway, front walk ways, sidewalks, and actual curb! The concrete areas around your home get stained by many things, meanwhile they are literally the first place your guest’s shoes hit the ground. Acting like a sponge, concrete driveways absorb contaminants, dirt, and grime. There are several kinds of stains your concrete hardscapes can get.

1. Grease and oil stains—whether it’s from your car, or perhaps from your BBQ grill, oil stains look terrible on your concrete.
2. Biological stains—Mold, mildew and algae not only look awful, but they can be dangerous for you and your guests because they are slippery, especially when it rains. Here is Southwest Florida, the high humidity, and in particular during the summer, the constant rain, causes almost everyone to get these kinds of biological stains on their hardscapes. A slip and fall on concrete is no laughing matter.
3. Tire marks—Black tire marks on your driveway may look like they can’t be removed, but they can, so don’t just put up with it.
4. Water stains and rust—If you have potted plants along your walkways they can cause water stains on the concrete and also add to the mold and mildew problem. Getting them cleaned off a couple of times a year will keep your walkway looking beautiful, so people notice your plants, not the stains.
5. Salt stains—The salt in the air here in SWFL is corrosive to pretty much all of your exterior surfaces. Salt corrodes both metal and concrete. At some point, salt can cause flaking or spalling on the surface of your driveway.
6. Weeds in the cracks between—Although not a stain, weeds in the cracks between your concrete slabs make your home look like it’s in disrepair, and also can cause your concrete to degenerate and crumble and crack. Proper pressure washing can blast out weeds by the root and remove the dirt they grow in, keeping the integrity of your concrete slab safe.

Left untreated, these kinds of stains actually weaken your driveway, making it more susceptible to cracking and deterioration. Having a new driveway installed is expensive, so why not simply be sure to maintain it by getting it pressure washed twice a year? Concrete looks like it’s a solid and invincible surface that you could easily power wash yourself, however this is one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to pressure washing. People often underestimate the power of a jet of water, use the wrong nozzle or the wrong level of pressure and damage their hardscapes easily. Most people don’t understand how powerful a pressurized stream of water can be. It is possible to cause significant, visible damage in the form of pitting, etched lines and general surface degradation if you don’t know what you’re doing. Etching is slightly blasting tiny bits of concrete off, engraving lines in the concrete which show up especially when the concrete is wet.

One of the other issues with trying to pressure wash your own driveway is that quite often the non-commercial level pressure washers are weaker than what we use as professionals. So rather than cleaning off biologicals, they merely spread the mold spores around, making your driveway even more susceptible to a widespread mold problem just a few months down the line.
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Concrete hardscapes beautify your home’s landscaping, save water, and provide solid surfaces for parking, walking and entertaining. Let us help you improve their durability and longevity with a maintenance contract that will have us pressure wash your home twice a year, which will allow you to enjoy the beauty of your patios, walkways, sidewalks and driveways long after they are installed. Give us a call at Under Pressure at 239-218-5085.