Softwashing a Driveway

Why it needed cleaning?

The driveway was in good condition without too much visible staining on the pavers, but it was starting to go slippery, and going into winter it was only going to get worse. The customers family were worried about her falling over and also the amount of moss that was growing between

Why not pressure wash it?

Though pressure washing can be the best thing to do, sometimes it is too too rough on a driveway. You could see parts of this driveway were starting to sink slightly where cars have been parked on it for a long time. Also our objetive here was to kill the organic slippery growth on the driveway. People often find that pressure washing gives great immediate results, but that the greenery is growing back within a month. Softwashing can give longer lasting results.

How it works

The driveway is treated with a bleaching chemical to kill all the organic materials.

Within a few minutes you can see algae, lichen and moss turning white, and engrained dirt lifting from the surface. Whereas pressurewashing will remove organic material immediately, softwashing will kill them and they will naturally dissappear overtime as they weather.

It will generally last a long time before they re-grow and you don’t need to re-sand your driveway because the sand has not been displaced.

Final Results

The drivway came up clean, with no organic matter left behind. Anything that has turned while will die over the next few weeks as it naturally weathers in the rain and sun. We had fantastic results and the customer was over the moon with the way it turned out.

Softwashing is a different way to clean, and you need to understand the differences. In 3 months time the driveway will look even cleaner than it does now. In this case it worked brilliantly and will give long lasting results.