Power washing in Malahide

What the coast does to a Malahide house

Malahide sits between the estuary and the open sea, and the weather off the water leaves two kinds of mark. Salt spray dries to a dull film on glass, uPVC frames, front doors and railings. The damp that comes with it keeps the shaded side of every garden wet enough for algae, so paths, steps and patios turn green and slick.

The two need different treatment. Salt dissolves, so it comes away with a gentle wash and a thorough rinse; there's no reason to put force on a uPVC frame or a painted door. Algae and moss on paving need hot water to lift them properly. On a typical visit we do both, switching method as we work round the house.

Houses facing the water take the worst of the salt, but even a few streets back, windows and doors on the exposed side catch it after a windy week. Rain rinses some of it away. The sheltered spots under porches, canopies and window heads hold on to it longest, and that's where the film is thickest when we arrive.

Granite steps and the older houses

The village and the roads around it have a good share of Victorian and Edwardian houses, and many have granite steps up to the hall door, granite kerbs along the front garden and old walls bedded in lime mortar. Granite itself is hard-wearing. The joints, the pointing and any painted render around it are not.

So on older fronts we:

• Keep the hot water at moderate pressure on steps, with the lance kept off soft joints
• Try a small, out-of-sight area first where the stone or pointing looks fragile
• Soft wash painted render and window surrounds rather than blasting them
• Warn you beforehand about staining that sits in the stone, which will lighten rather than disappear

Rust marks beside old railings and dark patches where water has run for years are the usual stubborn ones. Our stone cleaning page has more on granite, brick and concrete.

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Driveways in the estates

Away from the village, most Malahide homes are semis and detached houses in estates, out along the Swords Road, around Yellow Walls and towards Kinsealy. Drives there are a mix of cobble-lock, plain concrete and tarmac, sometimes with a granite or brick border, and occasionally all of those on a single property.

Each gets its own approach. Block paving and concrete take hot water well. Tarmac is softer, especially on a warm day, so we keep the pressure down and stay gentle on worn edges; see tarmac cleaning. Our driveway cleaning page goes through the rest.

We don't seal drives. If you're weighing up sealing your block paving or tarmac after the clean, we're glad to tell you what we noticed about the surface so you can take it up with a specialist.

Patios and walled gardens

Plenty of Malahide back gardens are bounded by high walls and mature trees, which is lovely in July and less so in January, when the patio never dries out. Sandstone, granite and limestone slabs all turn up, and each needs the pressure matched to it. Sandstone is the softest and marks most easily if it's blasted. Limestone reacts badly to acidic cleaners, so we don't use them on it. Black lichen spots on any stone fade over time rather than rinsing away.

In a walled garden, spray has nowhere to go, so we rinse down walls, windows and back doors as we finish. Our patio cleaning page covers each stone in more detail.

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Roofs, gutters and big trees

Mature trees around the village fill gutters quickly every autumn, and the overflow stains walls and turns the paving below green. We clear gutters and downpipes (gutter cleaning) and take moss off roofs without high pressure (roof cleaning). Natural slate on an older house is handled gently, and if we spot something that needs a roofer, we'll say so.

Booking in Malahide

Parking near the village can be tight, so tell us what's outside: a drive, a space on the road or a car park close by. We'll need an outside tap and a power socket we can use, so tell us where they are when you send photos. If the only route to the back garden is through the house, mention that as well. All our work is fully insured.

A few things help us price it quickly:

• a photo of each surface from a few steps back, plus one up close
• a close-up of any old stone or pointing you're worried about
• where the van can stop, and whether there's a side gate

We also clear houses in the area (house clearance in Malahide) and clean carpets (carpet cleaning in Malahide), which suits anyone downsizing from a family home. For the estates just inland, see power washing in Swords, and for everything else we clean, our power washing page.