Wall softwash for Bovisand homes
Sheltered bay with Napoleonic-era fort.
Cleaning walls in Bovisand is a slow, quiet job done at low pressure. It is nothing like a driveway wash, and on granite and painted render that difference is the whole point.
Quote for a Bovisand property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
Shade, damp and run-off
- Overhanging eaves protect the top of a wall and leave the unprotected lower band to take everything.
- Prevailing wind decides which elevation takes driven rain, and that elevation is nearly always the tired-looking one.
- Where a downpipe discharges into a gully that has silted, the overflow soaks the wall base each winter.
- Old sealant around window heads cracks and lets a thin trickle run down the face below.
- Lichen prefers hard, alkaline surfaces, which is why it shows on mortar and cills before it shows on render.
- A path that slopes towards a house rather than away from it keeps the base of the wall wet after every shower.
- A wall shielded by a car port dries slowly because it never sees direct sun or driven rain.
- Spores travel on the wind and land everywhere. What decides whether they take hold is whether the surface stays damp.
- North and east elevations dry last and green first, in that order, on nearly every property.
Bovisand at a glance
- Access is usually via Wembury Road.
- Recorded character: coastal hamlet. Sheltered bay with Napoleonic-era fort.
- Nearest full coverage hub: Wembury (PL9), South Hams District Council.
- Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
- Wembury sits about 1.4 miles from Bovisand on our round, so visits are often shared.
Surfaces this page is written for
- Cracks in render change the staining pattern, because water then sits behind the face as well as on it.
- Where render sits over insulation, the wall is more sensitive still and the mix is weakened accordingly.
- A test patch low down and out of sight is how failing paint is found deliberately.
- Peeling in flakes means adhesion has gone; powdering under the hand means the surface has simply aged.
- The mortar between granite blocks is usually lime, which sets the whole method for the wall.
- Pressure on granite blows out the joints long before it touches the stone.
Reading the surface
- 01Where the pattern is a band at the bottom, splash from the ground is doing it.
- 02Photographs taken before work provide the reference for judging the result later.
- 03A short section of hose test shows whether run-off drains away or ponds at the base.
- 04The presence of moss rather than algae suggests standing water rather than damp air.
- 05Where paint is peeling in flakes rather than powdering, adhesion has already gone.
- 06Hollow-sounding render is checked by tapping before any water is put onto it.
- 07Where the pattern is even across the whole face, exposure and aspect are the cause.
- 08Whether the growth has spread onto glass and frames tells you how long it has been established.
Planning a full exterior in Bovisand
A wall treated in autumn goes into winter clean, which is when it matters most.
Booking services out of order is the commonest reason a clean seems not to have lasted.
If windows were cleaned recently, tell us, and they get sheeted rather than redone.
Block paving cannot be re-sanded until it is dry, which decides the running order in a wet week.
Before the day in Bovisand
- Say where the outside tap is, and whether it runs at any pressure.
- Let us know if anyone in the house works nights and needs quiet at a particular time.
- Flag any recent repair or repaint, because fresh work is treated more gently.
- Point out where the render was patched, since patches clean differently from the original.
- Say whether the elevation backs onto a public footpath.
- Note the position of the stopcock in case the outside tap needs isolating.
- Warn us about a soft lawn or an unmade drive so boards come on the van.
- Bring in washing, cushions and anything fabric that lives against the wall.
Within a short run of Bovisand
Questions Bovisand owners ask
- Is timber cladding treated the same way?
- No. Cladding takes a weaker mix, and pressure is avoided entirely because it raises the grain.
- Do you offer a maintenance visit?
- A lighter top-up treatment every couple of years is much less work than leaving it until it is heavy again.
- What if I only want the front done?
- That is the most common request on this kind of job.
- Can you treat one elevation only?
- Yes, and it is common. Often only the shaded side has a problem and the rest of the house needs nothing.
- Do you clean under the eaves?
- The soffit line is in the spray path and gets a pass as part of the work.
- Can two elevations be done on separate days?
- Yes, and splitting a larger property over two visits is normal.
- Do you clean stonework?
- Yes, with the method set by the softest part of the wall, which is almost always the mortar.
- When does a treated wall show its final appearance?
- Some change can be visible after treatment, while remaining dead growth may continue to weather away over the following days.
Photos and a postcode
That is the whole enquiry. We come back with what we would do and what it costs.
To sum up for PL9
A maintenance pass is far lighter work than a first clean, and it stays that way. A treated wall keeps changing for a fortnight, which is the sign the method worked. Written scope first means nothing is discovered late. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.