This is the advice we give on the phone, written down. It applies whether you use us or somebody else.
Black spot is not dirt
Those small black circles welded to slabs are lichen, and pressure or water alone will not shift them – people who try usually end up scarring the stone. It needs a chemical treatment left to work, and on bad patios it can take a second application. Ask anyone quoting you how they intend to deal with it.
Pointing usually fails before the paving does
On older patios the cement between the slabs goes first. Cleaning a patio with crumbling pointing will wash more of it out – that is not us damaging your patio, it is showing where the pointing has already failed. If yours is going, get it repointed with resin at the same time and enjoy your patio for many more years without issues.
Nobody should be jetting your render
High pressure on render cracks it, drives water behind it and takes the finish off painted walls. Render is cleaned with a biocidal treatment applied at low pressure and rinsed off gently. If a quote for your render mentions using high pressure, get another quote.
Do not let anyone sell you a sealant
We do not offer sealing and we advise against it. It does not stop weeds coming through the joints, it flakes within months of a British winter, and it traps moisture underneath, which brings the green back faster and makes the next clean harder. Our advice is to stay well away from sealants.
Judge a quote by what it says about your surface
A price that arrives without a single question about the surface, its condition or your water supply is a price for an average job, not for yours. Everything we quote is priced by the job: the surface, how far it has gone, the access and whether there is water on site.
