PL13 harbour country: Looe, Polperro and steep salt streets
Looe and Polperro are the hardest-worn buildings on our list. Painted stone and render, Cornish slate, streets too narrow for a van, and a harbour that puts salt and gull mess on everything all year round.
PL13 covers 17 places we work in, 14.4 to 22.4 miles from our base at 58 Reddington Road, Plymouth (Cornwall, Cornwall Council) - all inside our 20-mile radius of Plymouth.
Gull fouling is an actual cleaning category here
Nowhere else we work has the volume of gull droppings that the harbour villages do. It is acidic, it stains painted render permanently if it is left, and it comes back within weeks in season.
Regular washing of the affected elevations is the only thing that stops it etching in. It is unglamorous and it makes a visible difference.
Streets that predate vehicles
In Polperro and around East and West Looe the property is often a walk from the nearest parking. We plan for hose runs and hand-carried kit, and we work early before the streets fill up in summer.
Painted stone and repainting cycles
The white and pastel fronts here are paint over stone or lime render. Cleaning extends the life of a paint job considerably, and washing before repainting is worth far more than an extra coat.
Reached via A387, B3359. Recorded wall finishes: painted render, stone, painted stone. Roof coverings: slate, Cornish slate.
Questions we get asked in PL13
- Can gull staining be removed completely?
- If it is caught early, yes. Once it has etched into the paint film, cleaning improves it but repainting is the real fix.
- How do you work in Polperro where there is no vehicle access?
- On foot with hose from the nearest parking, and early in the day during the season.
- Is it worth cleaning before we repaint the front?
- Very much so. Paint applied over salt and biological growth fails early.
Towns and suburbs in PL13
Villages and neighbourhoods in PL13
- Widegates - wall softwash
- Portnadler - wall softwash
- Talland - wall softwash
- West Looe - wall softwash
- East Looe - wall softwash
- Morval - wall softwash
- Sandplace - wall softwash
- No Man's Land - wall softwash
- Lansallos - wall softwash
- Lanreath - wall softwash
- Muchlarnick - wall softwash
- Hannafore - wall softwash
- Plaidy - wall softwash
- Murrayton - wall softwash