Exterior cleaning in Modbury
Modbury is a South Hams hilltop town known for its white-painted Georgian frontages, with stone cottages and some modern infill around the edges. Walls are mostly painted lime render under natural slate, about eleven and a half miles from our base.
A white frontage shows every streak, which is why most enquiries from here are about green or black marks spreading down from sills and gutters.
Stone cottages and modern infill on the edge of town are a different job again, so we look at each elevation before recommending a method.
Painted lime render needs a gentle hand
Lime render on stone is softer than modern cement render and it needs to breathe. Pressure washing can erode it and drive water in. We softwash at low pressure, give the solution longer to dwell, and rinse gently.
The result is a cleaner face that keeps its paint, with the growth killed at the root so it does not come straight back.
Slate roofs and gutters
Gutters on older frontages are often cast iron or ogee profiles, and they fill with moss from the slate above. Clearing them before winter stops overflow staining the render below.
Natural slate holds moss in the laps between slates. We remove it by hand where needed and treat the roof so regrowth is slower, then clear the gutters so the debris does not end up blocking the downpipes.
Questions from Modbury
- Is Modbury treated differently to newer estate houses?
- Yes. Painted lime render gets lower pressure and more dwell time than modern cement render.
- Can you clean a white frontage without leaving tide marks?
- Softwashing treats the whole elevation evenly, which avoids the patchy look you can get from spot cleaning.