Concrete Cleaning in Washington Township
Washington Township pours more driveway per house than the subdivisions to the south, because a home set far back off Van Dyke or 31 Mile Rd needs a few hundred feet of concrete to reach the garage. That much flatwork collects iron arcs, tire tracks and shade algae, and it cleans by the square foot.
A long private drive in Washington Township has three problems, and they sit at three different spots on it. The first is under the sprinkler throw, where well water dries into orange iron arcs and a white hardness haze; many homes here are on private wells, and every watering adds a layer. The second is at the low corners, because the rolling ground drains faster than southern Macomb's clay but a long drive and a big patio still pool where the grade dips, and standing water leaves a dark ring of silt and then a green one of algae. The third is under the canopy, on the wooded lots toward Stony Creek Metropark, where the shaded end of the drive by the house stays green from April until frost, and the walk to the front door usually shows the same ring where it meets the drive.
Between those spots the concrete is doing ordinary aging: tire tracks at the turn-in, oil at the parking spot, rust beneath the basketball hoop, and the gray that unsealed concrete takes on after a few freeze-thaw winters. The stamped and decorative drives that came with the newer homes on the former orchard ground add a fourth problem, because dirt settles into the pattern's low points and the color underneath looks faded when it is only dirty.
Hot water and a surface cleaner take off the tracks, silt and algae without cutting the surface, and iron and rust get their own treatments, because a pressure wand on an orange arc only spreads it. Concrete cleaning starts at $149. On a long drive the price follows the square footage, and the same visit can include the walks and the patio, which is where the stamped work usually is. The shop is about 22 minutes away in Clinton Township, and there is no travel charge for the distance.
Cleaning a Few Hundred Feet of Drive
We start at the garage and work toward the road so the rinse water runs ahead of us instead of back over clean concrete. A hot-water surface cleaner lifts the traffic film, silt and algae in overlapping passes, then the wand goes back to the edges, the control joints and the low corners where the pooling ring sits. Oil, rust and iron each get their own pre-treatment before the pass reaches them, and stamped sections get a lower setting so the pattern edges keep their profile. A drive of a few hundred feet with its walks takes most of a day, and we photograph it dry.
How a Long Drive Gets Damaged
Two mistakes, both about pressure. A wand held close to the surface at a hard angle etches lines into the cream, and on stamped concrete it blows the pattern edges round and leaves a clean stripe the exact width of the wand. On the sprinkler arcs it does nothing; iron is a stain in the surface, not on it, and pressure moves the water around while the orange stays. The other error is skipping the low corners, which look clean when wet and dry back to a dark ring, because silt in a pooling spot needs a second, slower pass.
Timing It Right
Spring and fall are the seasons, once the nights are reliably above freezing. Spring cleaning takes off a winter of salt and grit before it grinds into the surface; fall cleaning lifts the shade algae before the wet months feed it. On drives being sealed the same year, cleaning and sealing share one visit with a dry day between. Shaded drives near Stony Creek Metropark need a full day of sun before any sealer goes down.
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Concrete Cleaning in Washington Township: FAQs
What does it cost to clean a long driveway in Washington Township?
From $149, priced by the square foot, so a drive of a few hundred feet lands well above the starting number and the quote will say exactly where. Walks and a patio done in the same visit add less per foot than a separate trip, and the calculator on our pricing page gives a range before you call.
Do the orange sprinkler arcs on my driveway come out?
Yes. Those arcs are iron from well water, and they come out with an iron-specific treatment applied before the hot-water pass, not with pressure. The white hardness haze that comes with them lifts the same way. Turning the heads so they no longer throw across the drive keeps the arcs from returning by next summer.
Will cleaning restore the color of my stamped driveway?
Cleaning brings back the color that is buried under dirt, which on a stamped drive is often more than expected. Color that has faded from sun and freeze-thaw without a sealer is another matter, and a penetrating sealer after cleaning keeps what is left from going further. We tell you which case you have when we see the drive.
Why is the shaded end of my drive near Stony Creek green every year?
Because it never fully dries. Under mature oaks and maples the end of the drive by the house sees little sun and holds dew and rain, and algae only grows on a surface that stays wet. Hot water and a treatment kill it, and a penetrating sealer after cleaning slows its return by keeping the concrete drier.
More in Washington Township
Deeper reading: How to Remove Hard Water Stains and Sprinkler Rust from Exterior Brick and How to Remove Stubborn Oil and Rust Stains from Your Driveway.
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