Driveway cleaning in Tewkesbury — silt, clay stains and moss off, joints re-sanded.

Yes — it's one of the most common jobs we get called to in Tewkesbury. Flood and surface-water mud isn't just sitting on top; the fine river silt washes down into the joints and the open pores of the blocks and sets like a thin clay skin once it dries. A garden hose barely touches it. We lift it with a rotary surface cleaner that flushes the silt up and out of the joints, agitate the stubborn set-in mud, then rinse the whole drive down so the silt isn't just pushed into the next joint along. Once it's dry we re-sand. After a real flood there can also be a tide-line stain and a lingering smell from organic matter in the water — both usually clear with the clean and a treatment.

Most of the vale sits on heavy river-clay subsoil. Clay swells when it's wet and shrinks when it dries, so through the seasons the ground under your drive is constantly moving a few millimetres up and down. That shrink-swell works the blocks loose, opens the joints and lets the kiln-dried sand wash out — which is exactly when weeds and moss move in and individual blocks start to rock. Cleaning alone doesn't fix movement, but re-sanding the joints properly after the clean locks the blocks back together and stops the slow creep getting worse. If whole sections have actually sunk or heaved we'll tell you honestly at the survey whether it's a clean-and-re-sand job or whether a few blocks need lifting and re-laying first.

Yes, on every block-paving job, included as standard. Cleaning a Tewkesbury drive always strips the old jointing sand — and on ground that already moves with the clay, leaving the joints empty is asking for trouble. Once the surface has dried we sweep fresh kiln-dried sand into every joint, vibrate and brush it down so it settles to the bottom, and top it off. That's what locks the blocks back together and keeps the weeds out. Any cleaner who jet-washes your drive and leaves without re-sanding has done half a job.

Not the way we do it. Block paving and concrete are cleaned with a rotary surface cleaner — a flat enclosed head that keeps the jets a fixed distance from the surface and spins them evenly, so you get a clean sweep with no zebra-stripes and no gouged blocks. Tarmac and gravel are different: those get a gentle low-pressure clean, because high pressure tears the binder out of tarmac and blasts gravel across the garden. The trick is matching the method to the surface, and we survey first so we know which is which before we start.

Most domestic drives are a half-day to a full day, depending on size, condition and whether there's flood silt or heavy moss to deal with. A standard two-car block-paving drive on Northway or Mitton that just needs the algae lifted and re-sanding is usually a half-day. A larger drive caked in set-in river silt, or one that needs sealing as well, takes longer. We give you a realistic time at the quote and we don't pack up until it's done properly.

Yes, and it's the vale's signature problem. The low-lying ground around the Severn and Avon holds damp long after the rain stops, and north-facing or shaded drives barely dry out — so green algae and black slime build up fast and get genuinely slippery underfoot. We clean it all off with the rotary, then can apply a treatment that keeps the regrowth back far longer than the clean alone. On a damp, low plot that treatment is well worth having, because here the green comes back quicker than on higher, drier ground.

That's efflorescence — natural lime salts in the concrete blocks drawn to the surface as they dry out, and it's far more common here because the damp vale ground keeps the blocks wet for longer so the salts keep migrating. It looks like a chalky white haze, mostly on paving that's only a few years old. It's harmless but it spoils the look. We treat it as part of the clean with the right product; sometimes it takes more than one pass as fresh salts come through, and we'll be straight with you about that rather than promising it's gone forever in one go.

On a damp vale drive it's worth considering. A sealer locks the fresh kiln-dried sand into the joints so the next flood or wet winter can't wash it straight back out, blocks weeds for two to three years, makes the surface easier to hose down after silt, and brings the colour back richer. It won't stop the ground moving, but on Tewkesbury clay where joints open and sand escapes, sealing buys you noticeably longer between cleans. We'll give you an honest yes or no at the quote based on the surface, its age and how exposed the drive is — it isn't right for every drive. More on sealing →

Yes. A fair number of the 1990s-2000s drives around Tewkesbury Park and the newer estates are imprinted concrete, and in this climate the colour fades and the old sealer goes milky and flakes while algae blackens the low points. We deep-clean it back to bare pattern, then re-apply a tinted resin sealer brushed into the texture so the colour comes back and the surface is protected again. It's a proper restoration, not just a rinse — see our imprinted concrete re-colouring page for how it works.

All of Tewkesbury and the surrounding vale — the town centre, Northway, Newtown, Mitton, Priors Park, Tewkesbury Park, Walton Cardiff, Wheatpieces, Ashchurch, the Mythe and out to Twyning and Bredon. Same pricing across the patch, no extra travel charge. We're a local, fully insured, no-deposit outfit — you pay on completion, not before. If you're not sure we reach you, send your GL20 postcode and we'll confirm.