Most driveways here are one car wide, run back to a detached garage, and were poured before 1960. Under forty feet of maple, the shaded half of the front walk greens over while the alley apron holds decades of drip. Old concrete cleans up fine. It just will not take the pressure a new slab does.
Most of the flatwork in South Boise Village predates 1960. The 1920s and 1930s blocks have hand-floated walks with scored control joints and a top layer that has been through ninety Idaho winters. The 1950s ranches added wider drives, and a few older lots still run a two-strip ribbon driveway with grass down the middle. All of it is softer at the surface than a slab poured last year, and a lot of it has taken decades of sidewalk salt. Put a narrow high-pressure tip on that and you etch wand stripes into the paste, blow the joint sand out, and pull loose aggregate off anywhere that has already begun to flake. We run a flat surface cleaner at a pressure the slab can actually take and pre-treat first, so the chemistry does the lifting instead of the water.
Nearly every lot here parks off a single-width drive running back to a detached garage, and a good share of the duplexes park off the alley. That short apron between alley gravel and concrete is the dirtiest hardscape on the property. It gets gravel dust rolled in wet, drip from whatever has been parked there since the garage went up, and tire scrub from cranking the wheel in a tight turn. Fresh oil pulls out with a degreaser and real dwell time. Oil that has soaked into unsealed 1940s concrete over thirty years is down in the pores, and the honest answer is we lighten it, not erase it. We run a test patch and show you the difference before you pay to have the whole apron done.
The street trees planted when these blocks were new are well past the rooflines now. Under that canopy the north and east sides of a walk stay damp into the afternoon and grow a green-black film. That is algae and moss living in the joints, not dirt, and scrubbing does nothing without a solution that kills it. The maples and lindens add aphid honeydew, which goes tacky and traps dust, plus leaf tannin that leaves brown rings where wet leaves sat all November. Yards still holding ditch rights off the Boise City Canal get a fourth: flood water pushes silt over the walk edge and dries to a tan crust with mineral on top. Each of those lifts a different way, so we identify what is on the slab before anything gets sprayed.
A bungalow porch on these streets is usually a concrete deck sitting on brick piers, and about half have been painted at some point, porch enamel over concrete, often several coats, often already lifting at the edges. Pressure takes that paint off in sheets. Great if you meant to strip it, a real problem if you did not, so we ask first and test in a corner that does not show. The brick piers and their mortar get soft-washed at low pressure, because 1930s mortar is lime-heavy and a narrow tip cuts it straight out of the joint. Same thinking on the house: painted lap siding on an eighty-year-old wall gets a soft-wash rinse, never a pressure blast that drives water behind the boards and into the sheathing.
Driveways, patios, walkways and alley aprons are $0.20 per square foot, measured rather than guessed from the street, so a one-car drive plus a front walk on a standard lot here prices out small. House washing is soft-wash only. If a section of slab is actively spalling, popping chips loose when you scuff it with a boot, we will tell you to leave it alone, because washing it takes more off. Memberships run Monthly or Quarterly with no contract, and under this much tree cover a spring and fall rhythm keeps algae from getting established instead of paying for a heavy restoration wash every few years. Every job carries a 7-Day Rain Guarantee. Same-day and next-day slots are usually open. Locally owned, started in 2025 by Hunter Stevens and Ethan Seusy, fully insured, 4.9 stars across 115+ Google reviews. Call (208) 453-6760.
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Not at the pressure we use on old flatwork. The risk on pre-war concrete is a narrow tip held close, which stripes the surface and tears out weak spots. We use a flat surface cleaner that spreads the load evenly and pre-treat so less pressure is needed. If the slab is already spalling and shedding chips, we say so and leave that section, because washing accelerates it.
We can lighten it, and how much depends on age. Oil sitting on the surface for a season pulls out with a degreaser and dwell time. Oil that has wicked into unsealed concrete for twenty or thirty years, which is most detached-garage slabs in this neighborhood, has stained the material itself and no amount of pressure removes it. We test a patch first so you can decide before paying for the whole apron.
Pressure will lift failing porch paint in sheets, and it comes off unevenly, so you end up committed to stripping the rest. We ask before we start and test in a corner that does not show. If you want the paint kept, we drop to a soft-wash rinse that cleans the grime without peeling it. If you want it gone, stripping it properly is a different scope than a normal wash.
Under a mature maple on a north-facing walk, expect regrowth in roughly a year, sometimes sooner if the sprinklers hit that section. Algae and moss are living in the joints, so a pass that only rinses the surface regrows fast. We treat it so it dies rather than just washing the color off, and a Monthly or Quarterly membership keeps it from re-establishing between visits.
That is almost always iron, from irrigation or ditch water rather than city tap. Pressure alone does not touch it, and a stronger detergent will not either, because the rust has bonded to the concrete. It takes a rust-specific treatment, and even then old iron staining often only fades. Worth knowing: if the source is a misaimed head, correcting the head matters more than any cleaning we do.
We work off hose reel from your outdoor spigot and carry enough line to reach back patios and alley slabs on these lots. Tell us about a locked side gate or a gate narrower than three feet when you book so we bring the right setup. On home game Saturdays streets toward the stadium park out by mid-morning, so flag it and we will schedule you another day.
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