21 practical exterior-cleaning guides from Dirty South Power Wash: black spot removal, soft washing roofs, how often to clean a driveway or patio, re-sanding block paving, sealing paving and cleaning solar panels. Each is written from real jobs across Surrey, Sussex and Kent.
Straight, practical guides to keeping your driveway, patio and roof clean, written from real jobs across Surrey, Sussex and Kent. No sales fluff, just what actually works.
November is the month most UK gutters are worth clearing, because the last leaves are only down by then. Here is what comes off the trees between September and November, why an early October clear gets undone, and when a gutter clear is the wrong thing to book.
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K Rend says its silicone finish is drier and more resistant to algae, and its own pages still tell you to wash the wall down. Here is what the makers publish instead, what self cleaning means when a manufacturer really claims it, how monocouche differs from a thin-coat silicone system, and how to tell a leaking gutter from ordinary dirt.
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Checkatrade and MyBuilder both publish £250 to £400 for a standard driveway clean, while MyJobQuote publishes £100 to £350. Here are the figures they publish, why the per square metre rates contradict each other, and what actually moves the price.
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Published UK block paving cleaning prices range from £120 to £450 depending on which authority you read, and none of them automatically includes re-sanding the joints. Here is what each one publishes, where they agree, and the one question to ask before you accept a quote.
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Three UK price authorities publish patio cleaning prices and they do not agree: £3 to £4.50 per square metre, £220 to £490 a job, or £40 to £150 a job. This guide shows all three as published, explains why the gap is so wide, and lists what actually moves the number on your patio.
Read more Three national price guides publish gutter cleaning bands, and on an ordinary two-storey house they land close together. Here is what each one publishes, where Checkatrade gives two different three-storey figures, and what pushes a quote up.
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Only two of the four big UK price authorities publish a render cleaning cost, and the gap between them is wide. Here are both ranges as published, what changes the number on your wall, and what a quote usually leaves out.
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MyJobQuote puts a roof clean on an average semi at £400 to £550 for pressure washing and £450 to £650 for soft washing, and Checkatrade puts moss removal higher again at £637.50 to £862.50. Here is what each authority publishes, where they disagree, and what is usually left out of the quote.
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The short answer is no, and the reason is the edges rather than the glass. Here is what the published advice says about pressure washing solar panels, how far apart the module makers' pressure ceilings are as summarised by ChemiTek in 2023, and what a panel should be cleaned with instead.
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Standard block paving takes kiln dried jointing sand, but the colour matters on light blocks and permeable paving takes an angular aggregate instead. Here is how to tell which you have, how to check whether a patio jointing compound suits your joints, and what the published guides say re-sanding costs.
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Jeyes Fluid is an outdoor disinfectant, and its product pages claim moss and algae removal rather than lichen. Here is what it will and will not do to black spot, and what to be careful of with pets, plants and drains.
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Fourteen pressure washing and exterior cleaning firms across Surrey, Sussex and Kent in the UK, listed alphabetically with the same checkable facts for each, plus what three published cost guides charge nationally, and the two that break gutter cleaning down to South East England.
Read more The Roof Tile Association and the NFRC both say a light covering of moss on sound concrete tiles is rarely a problem. Here is when it is worth acting, and when we would tell you to leave it.
Read more The usual answer is twice a year, but the published guidance does not agree with itself. What really decides it is what sits above the gutter, and what goes wrong when it is left.
Read more It is widely repeated that render manufacturers ban pressure washing. K Rend's own maintenance page does not. Here is what it actually says, and why rinsing a wall does not deal with the algae.
Read more Done properly, a pressure wash will not wreck your blocks. The risk sits in the joints. Here is what the jointing sand does, how much pressure is too much, and why re-sanding is part of the job.
Read more Not all paving needs sealing, whatever the sealant adverts suggest. Here is where it genuinely helps, where it does nothing, and how long a surface has to dry first.
Read more Rain does most of the work on a UK roof. Cleaning matters for what rain cannot shift: bird droppings, sap and lichen. Here is the honest picture, including why we never pressure wash a panel.
Read more Black spots are a living lichen rooted deep in the stone, which is why jet washing and bleach never keep them away. Here is what actually works, and what is safe on your surface.
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For nearly every UK roof, soft washing is the safe choice and jet washing is the one to avoid. Here is the plain reason why, tile type by tile type.
Read more A practical guide to how often driveways and patios really need cleaning across Surrey, Sussex and Kent, why some surfaces dirty faster, and how a light regular clean beats leaving it for years.
Read moreFree, no-obligation quotes across Surrey, Sussex and Kent. Send a few photos and we will do the rest.
