Power washing in Greystones

Charlesland drives, a couple of decades on

Charlesland and the other estates that went up south of the old town over the past twenty-five years or so turned Greystones from a seaside village into a sizeable town. Most of those houses came with block-paved drives, and a lot of those drives have now been through enough winters to show it.

The signs are familiar: a green tinge creeping in from the lawn edge, moss lining the joints, and darker blocks where the cars park every night. Plenty of these drives have never had a proper clean, and the first one makes the biggest difference.

Hot water takes the algae and traffic film off the blocks and pulls the growth out of the joints. Expect the joints to look emptier afterwards, because the sand that was in them had mostly been feeding moss. Refilling them is a simple job for a dry weekend, and we're happy to tell you what to use. There's more on each surface in driveway cleaning.

Porcelain, sandstone and the newer patio

Newer houses tend to have newer patios: porcelain slabs, smooth or riven sandstone, and in places concrete pavers. Porcelain is the easiest of these to clean, since water doesn't soak into it, but the grout or jointing compound between the slabs holds dirt and green. Sandstone is the opposite: porous and soft, so it gets a lower pressure to avoid etching marks into the face.

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Black spots on sandstone are usually lichen rooted into the stone. They fade over the following weeks rather than disappearing on the day, and we'll be straight with you about that from your photos. Our patio cleaning page covers each kind of stone.

Decking: timber and composite

A lot of Greystones back gardens have a deck, often built off the back door to level out a sloping site or to make an outdoor room. Irish weather turns timber green and slippery within a season or two, especially under trees or alongside a high fence.

Decking needs a gentler approach than paving:

• Low pressure on timber, so the soft grain between the growth rings isn't torn up and left furry
• Working along the boards, never across them
• Care on composite, since some boards scratch or mark if the lance gets too close
• Gaps between boards cleared, so rain drains through again

If you plan to oil or stain the deck afterwards, it needs to dry right through first, which can take several dry days. Oiling and staining aren't part of what we do, but we'll happily advise on timing. Our decking cleaning page has the detail.

The older town around the harbour

Before the estates arrived, Greystones was a village of Victorian and Edwardian houses around the harbour and the main street, and plenty of them are still there. Their surfaces are a different proposition: granite steps and kerbs, brick or rendered garden walls, and tiled or gravel paths.

They need a lighter touch than estate paving, particularly where old walls are bedded in soft lime mortar. We keep the pressure down near the joints and leave gravel alone, cleaning only the edging and any paved sections. Our stone cleaning page explains how granite and brick are handled.

Near the sea and up the hill

Greystones sits right on the coast, and the houses closest to the water pick up salt on their windows, frames and fascias. Further inland, towards Delgany and the slopes below the hills, the problem is shade instead: houses among trees, damp gardens facing north and gutters packed with leaves every autumn.

We clear gutters and downpipes (gutter cleaning), and remove roof moss without high pressure (roof cleaning). Rendered walls that have gone green on the shady side get a low-pressure soft wash rather than a blast.

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Before you book

A little information up front makes the quote accurate and the day straightforward:

• Photos: the drive, patio and deck from far enough back to show their size, and a close-up of the greenest patch on each
• Access: the side gate, any steps down to a sloping garden, and anything in the way
• Pets and furniture: dogs kept indoors on the day, and pots and furniture moved off the deck where you can
• Supplies: an outside tap and a power socket we can use

Every Greystones job is fully insured. Indoors, we clear houses (house clearance in Greystones) and clean carpets (carpet cleaning in Greystones). For Bray, see power washing in Bray, and for the full list of what we clean, our power washing page.