PL4: tall terraces, high-level glass and sooted render
PL4 is built upwards. Three and four storey terraces, deep sash and casement windows, painted render over brick, and a lot of traffic passing close to the front elevation. Height and traffic film are the two things that shape almost every job here.
PL4 covers 8 places we work in, 0.9 to 1.9 miles from our base at 58 Reddington Road, Plymouth (Devon, Plymouth City Council) - all inside our 20-mile radius of Plymouth.
Reaching the third floor without a ladder
A carbon pole reaches these elevations comfortably, and it does it from the pavement rather than from a ladder footed on a busy road. That is safer for us and it means we can work on frontages where a ladder simply would not be legal.
It also produces a better result on old glass, because pure water leaves nothing behind in the leaded or draughty edges where a squeegee always leaves a line.
Traffic film on the front, algae on the back
Front elevations here collect a grey-brown film from the road: fine particulate, brake dust and diesel soot. It is a chemical problem, not a growth problem, and it needs a detergent rather than a biocide.
Rear elevations are the opposite - sheltered, damp, shaded by the next terrace, and green. Most PL4 houses need two different treatments on the same building, which is worth saying out loud before anyone quotes you one price for the lot.
Rented and multi-let property
A lot of this district is let. We are happy to deal with an agent or a landlord remotely, work to a communal-areas schedule, and invoice separately from the tenancy.
Reached via A374, Mutley Plain, North Hill, Greenbank Road. Recorded wall finishes: painted render, brick, exposed brick. Roof coverings: natural slate, slate, felt.
Questions we get asked in PL4
- Can you reach fourth-floor windows?
- Yes, pole-fed from the ground on most PL4 terraces. If a window genuinely cannot be reached we will tell you rather than improvise.
- Why is the front of my house grey rather than green?
- Traffic film. It needs washing with a detergent; a biocide alone will not shift it.
- Do you work with letting agents?
- Yes, including scheduled visits between tenancies.