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The grey on your patio is not dirt. It is growing.

Q: Why does sweeping never fix it?

Because most of what dulls concrete is alive. The grey-green cast is algae and mildew rooted down in the pores of the slab, not dust sitting on top of it. A broom moves the loose part and leaves the rest behind.

Q: Will it damage the concrete?

No. Flatwork is the one surface built for real pressure. It runs at 3,000 to 4,000 PSI on a surface cleaner, which spreads the force across a spinning bar instead of concentrating it into one jet.

Q: How often does concrete need doing?

Roughly every one to two years. Shaded slabs and anything sitting under a tree come back faster than an open one in full sun.

Q: Can you get rid of old oil?

Sometimes, and not always completely. Fresh drips usually lift. Oil that has been soaking into an unsealed slab for years has gone into the pores and may only lighten. You get told which one yours looks like before the job, not after it.

Patios, walkways, pool decks and garage floors around Conway and Greers Ferry Lake. Flatwork takes 3,000 to 4,000 PSI, more than anything else on the property gets, and that is what lets a slab go back to the colour it was poured.

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Concrete is quoted by area and by what is actually on it. A shaded patio is a different job from a garage floor.

What is on the slab

Concrete is porous, so things move in.

A slab looks solid and behaves like a sponge. It has an open pore structure that holds water, and anything biological landing on it settles down into that structure rather than resting on the surface. That is why the green cast on a shaded patio is back a week after it was swept, and why a garden hose does nothing to it.

It also explains the pattern you see. The strip under the eaves stays pale. The band catching roof runoff goes dark. The section beneath a tree turns properly green. Concrete keeps a record of where the water goes.

There is a safety side too. That film is slick once it is wet, and a pool deck is exactly where somebody is walking barefoot carrying something.

A concrete patio outside a pair of French doors, dark with grime near the doors and clean in front, with a hose lying on the wet surface

What gets cleaned

Every flat surface on the property.

Patios
Usually the worst of it, because the patio tends to be the shadiest slab on a property and the one closest to planting.
Pool decks
Constant water and permanent shade at the edges. This is where the slip film matters most.
Walkways and steps
Steps come out by hand with the wand, since a round surface cleaner cannot follow a riser.
Garage floors and aprons
The apron is the strip visible from the street and it collects everything running off the drive.

Brick, stone and paver flatwork is a separate setting — 500 to 1,500 PSI with dwell time so the joint sand stays put. That is covered on sidewalk cleaning.

Straight answers

Questions about concrete.

Why does sweeping never fix it?

Because most of what dulls concrete is alive. The grey-green cast is algae and mildew rooted down in the pores of the slab, not dust sitting on top of it. A broom moves the loose part and leaves the rest behind.

Will it damage the concrete?

No. Flatwork is the one surface built for real pressure. It runs at 3,000 to 4,000 PSI on a surface cleaner, which spreads the force across a spinning bar instead of concentrating it into one jet.

How often does concrete need doing?

Roughly every one to two years. Shaded slabs and anything sitting under a tree come back faster than an open one in full sun.

Can you get rid of old oil?

Sometimes, and not always completely. Fresh drips usually lift. Oil that has been soaking into an unsealed slab for years has gone into the pores and may only lighten. You get told which one yours looks like before the job, not after it.