Most of the patios we see around Blanchard sit on the back side of the house, and the back side is where the timber is. On lots that back up to pine and hardwood, a patio can go most of the day without direct sun. Put a porch roof over part of it and that corner may never fully dry between a muggy summer night and the next rain. Damp concrete and damp stone are exactly what algae and mildew are waiting for.

Covered porches fool people. Rain never falls on them, so it seems like they should stay clean, yet they collect a fine layer of dust and pollen that nothing ever rinses away, and the humidity takes it from there. The front edge where the drip line lands usually greens up first. Deeper under the roof the floor goes gray and dull, with a worn path from the back door to the steps that you can pick out from the yard.

An open patio out in the yard takes the full weather, plus leaf litter from the limbs overhead and whatever the lawn sheds onto it in a hard rain. Different starting points call for a different wash plan, and we sort that out at the walk.

A Blanchard patio can be made of almost anything, and the method has to follow the material. Plain broom-finish concrete is the toughest surface back there. It gets the surface cleaner, a spinning, shrouded tool that leaves an even field with no stripes.

Stamped and colored concrete is where careless washing does real harm. Those patios carry a sealer that holds the color, and full pressure lifts it off in patches. We turn the pressure down and use a cleaner meant for stamped work, so the dirt comes off and the finish stays put. If the sealer had already worn through before we arrived, we will show you where.

Pavers get a surface cleaner set up for paver work, which cleans the tops while the joint sand stays in the joints. Where some sand does wash out, we sweep fresh sand back in and set it before we leave. Flagstone and other natural stone get the lightest touch of all. The cleaning solution does most of the work and the pressure stays low, since softer stone can scar or flake under a strong tip.

Plenty of patios out here mix two of these, a concrete slab with a flagstone border or a paver extension added later. We switch methods as we cross from one to the other.

Spring and early fall are the best times to get a patio cleaned in Blanchard. Spring clears the winter mildew and the first pollen before the grill comes out for the season, and those dates fill first. Early fall knocks back a whole summer of green growth before the leaves start coming down. January and February are our lightest months on the calendar, so a patio that has bugged you all winter can usually get on the schedule fast.

There is no travel fee for Blanchard. We book morning slots, the crew shows up early, and most jobs are done in one day. A lot of folks add the driveway, the front walk, or a house wash to the same visit, because staging the equipment once covers all of it. Under heavy tree cover a patio usually wants cleaning every six to eight months. A sunny yard can go about a year between washes.