Everything I know, written down
20 pieces on what this work costs, what damages paving, and why your patio behaves differently from your neighbour's. Written to be useful whether or not you ever hire me.
What it costs
Real numbers, worked examples, and where the published guidance falls apart.
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Is Patio Sealing Worth the Money?
What patio sealer costs to buy, what contractors charge to apply it, and the specific surfaces where sealing is genuinely worth the money and where it is not.
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Block Paving Cleaning and Re-Sanding: What It Costs
What block paving cleaning and re-sanding costs per square metre, what kiln-dried sand actually does, and why a clean without it leaves your drive worse off.
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Driveway Cleaning Cost Per Square Metre
What driveway cleaning costs per square metre in 2026, why the minimum charge binds more often than the rate, and how to measure your own drive properly.
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How Much Does It Cost to Jet Wash a Patio in the UK?
What patio cleaning actually costs in 2026, with worked examples at 15, 25, 40 and 60 square metres, and why the big directory figures contradict themselves.
Damage and risk
What goes wrong, how, and how to avoid paying for it twice.
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Can You Jet Wash a Resin Bound Driveway?
Yes, carefully, at much lower pressure than block paving. The pressure limits that matter and the three ways people commonly wreck a resin surface.
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Why Is My Block Paving Going Green?
The green on your block paving is algae, and understanding why it grows where it does explains why washing alone never keeps it away for long.
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Should I Seal My Block Paving?
Block paving sealing is about stabilising the joint sand, not waterproofing the blocks, which is why silane-siloxane is the wrong product to buy for it.
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How Often Should You Jet Wash a Driveway?
Twelve to twenty-four months for most drives, and the factors that decide yours: aspect, tree cover, coastal exposure, ground type and surface porosity.
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Does Jet Washing Damage Tarmac?
Jet washing tarmac usually does more harm than good. What happens to the surface, what to do instead, and why doorstep tarmac sealing is best avoided.
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Does Jet Washing Damage Block Paving?
Yes, it can, and here is exactly how: joint sand blow-out, surface pitting, and the nozzle, pressure and standoff choices that decide which you get.
By material
Sandstone, porcelain, imprinted concrete, decking. They need different things.
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Decking: Jet Wash, Soft Wash, or Leave It Alone?
Pressure furs timber decking and the damage is not reversible. When to soft wash instead, what composite needs, and when a deck is past cleaning.
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Imprinted Concrete Driveways: Cleaning and Re-Sealing
On pattern imprinted concrete the sealer is the finish, not an extra, which is why cleaning without re-sealing shortens the life of the drive.
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Cleaning Porcelain Paving: What's Actually Different
Porcelain is non-porous, so it has different problems: surface film, grout haze and growth sitting on top rather than in the stone. It never needs sealing.
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How to Clean Indian Sandstone Without Ruining It
Indian sandstone is soft, thirsty and easy to damage. The pressure limits, the four month rule on new stone, and what to do about efflorescence.
Timing
When to book, when to seal, and the order to do a garden in.
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Getting the Garden Ready for Spring: The Order to Do Things In
Cleaning before planting, sealing after the last frost, and the sequencing mistakes that mean doing the same job twice in a single Sussex spring.
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Why Your Patio Goes Green Every Winter on the Sussex Coast
Coastal patios green over faster because salt in the air holds moisture against the stone, extending the damp hours algae needs well beyond the rainfall.
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The Best Time of Year to Clean a Patio in Sussex
March to May is when everyone books and February is when you should. What the seasonal demand curve looks like and how to use it to get a better slot.
Sussex ground
Salt, chalk and clay, and what each does to your paving.
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Chalk, Flint and Wealden Clay
The South Downs chalk edge and the heavy clay inland behave completely differently under a driveway. What each does to paving, drainage and staining.
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Salt, Sea Air and Sussex Stone
How airborne salt actually damages coastal paving through crystallisation, why it accelerates algae, and what it means for sealing choices in Seaford.
How I work
What a job actually involves, start to finish.
