Driveway Cleaning

A driveway takes more daily abuse than almost anything else outside the house, and the wear shows fast. Oil works its way below the surface of concrete and pavers, tires grind dirt and grime into the joints, and shade from the oak canopy keeps the slab damp long enough for mold and algae to take hold. None of it is only cosmetic.

Concrete and pavers are porous, and mold and algae send root structures down into that porosity rather than sitting on top of it. Left untreated they etch the material instead of just discoloring it. Oil behaves the opposite way — it sinks in and stays, and on a rainy Lowcountry afternoon an oil-slicked surface turns genuinely slick underfoot.

Concrete and pavers can take a pressure that would strip paint off siding, so cleaning a driveway calls for a different balance than cleaning the house next to it. The right pressure lifts embedded dirt and tire marks; the cleaning solution goes after mold and algae at the source, rather than knocking the surface growth off and leaving the spores to regrow within weeks.

Once the surface is clean, we can seal it. A sealant closes the pores that oil and organic growth exploit in the first place, so a future spill sits on top instead of soaking in, and algae has less to grip going forward. It is a maintenance step rather than a one-time fix, but it buys real time between cleanings.

Pavers add a wrinkle concrete does not have: growth works into the joints between them as readily as the surface itself, so paver seams need the same attention as the slab. Whether the surface is concrete or pavers, a driveway kept on a cleaning schedule around Charleston ages slower than one addressed only when it becomes an embarrassment.