Driveway cleaningin Deerfield Beach, FL.

On The Cove's waterfront lots, the concrete behind the house often runs to the dock: a pool deck, a patio and a walk. Salt settles on it off the Intracoastal and the Hillsboro River, dries into a crust, and holds a film of algae that turns slick when wet, which is the last thing anyone wants on the way to a boat.

It is cleaned with the surface cleaner where it fits and the wand at low pressure along the dock and seawall edge, with the rinse steered away from the water. The post-treatment slows the regrowth. If the seawall cap or the dock itself is cracked or rotten, that is pointed out as a marine contractor's job, not a cleaner's. Wood dock boards are not part of this service.

The Cove was built out from the early 1950s, and many of its drives and walks are old poured concrete that has lost its smooth top. The aggregate shows, the pores are open, and growth roots deep, so a plain rinse brings it back within weeks. Where a tree root has lifted a slab, the edge is finished by hand so the cleaner does not catch.

Old concrete gets a pressure it can take, a longer pre-treatment, the surface cleaner for an even finish, and a post-treatment to kill what is left in the pores. Rust and oil get their own products. A clean will make the drive even and clean, but it will not replace worn surface or fill cracks, and that is said before starting. The sidewalk and apron are included if you want them.

Independence Bay was built from the 1980s into the early 1990s and is run by eleven neighborhood associations. Some maintain the villa drives with the buildings and some leave them to owners, so the first step is checking which you are. Many of those drives are now thirty to forty years old.

Where the drive is yours, it is quoted with the walk and patio as one short job. The surface cleaner keeps its spray under the hood, and the edges next to a neighbor's drive are finished by hand with the wand held low. Shaded villa drives carry heavier growth, so the pre-treatment gets longer to work. If the association is the one that should book, the quote goes to them.