Softwashing cob and painted render walls around Buckland
Small hamlet between Thurlestone and Aveton Gifford.
Where a Buckland wall has gone patchy rather than evenly dirty, the cause is nearly always local: a downpipe, a hedge, a shaded corner. That is where we look first.
Working out what is wrong on a Buckland wall
- 01The condition of the cills tells you how much water has been running down the face.
- 02Photographs taken before work provide the reference for judging the result later.
- 03Anything that cannot be explained by water is treated with more caution, not less.
- 04Colour matters: green suggests algae, black suggests fungal spotting, grey-white crust suggests lichen.
- 05Hollow-sounding render is checked by tapping before any water is put onto it.
- 06Where the pattern is vertical and narrow, plumbing is looked at before chemistry is.
- 07The presence of moss rather than algae suggests standing water rather than damp air.
- 08The first question is whether the staining sits on the surface or has gone into the material, because only one of those cleans off.
Material first, method second
- Modern render, whether sand and cement or a thin-coat system, has a slightly porous face that holds airborne spores.
- A rendered wall under a failed drip detail restains within a season however well it was cleaned.
- Gloss-painted details like cills are wiped rather than sprayed.
- A weaker mix and a longer wait suits paint better than anything stronger and faster.
- Any rinse on cob is minimal and directed downwards, never held on the surface.
- Cob walls dry slowly, so work is planned for a dry settled stretch.
Why this keeps happening on TQ7 elevations
- A blocked hopper head can soak the same square metre of wall for an entire winter without anyone noticing.
- A downpipe discharging onto a hard surface next to the wall sends the water straight back at the brickwork.
- Silt washed down from the roof leaves a thin feeding layer on the render below.
- A wall that faces a large expanse of glass on another building gets less sun than its aspect suggests.
- Salt-laden air roughens exposed surfaces slightly, and rougher surfaces hold more moisture.
- Where a hose reel or water butt overflows against a wall, the staining follows the overflow path exactly.
- A split downpipe puts a single wet stripe down an elevation, and that stripe goes green months before anything either side of it.
- Growth returns fastest where the underlying cause was never dealt with, which is usually water going somewhere it should not.
- Rain shadow works both ways: the sheltered face stays dry of rain but also of the washing that rain provides.
On site in Buckland
- 1.Applications are kept off hot surfaces in direct sun, because a mix that flashes off has no dwell time at all.
- 2.Render beads and stop ends are inspected as work reaches them, because a lifted bead traps water behind the finish.
- 3.Any window left open is closed, or that section is skipped and left for a second visit.
- 4.Where a pond or water feature sits below an elevation, it is covered and the run-off diverted well away from it.
- 5.Everything is packed down before the last inspection, so the wall is judged clear of kit.
- 6.Beds and borders at the foot of the wall are soaked with clean water first, so any run-off arrives diluted.
- 7.External light fittings are switched off at the consumer unit before the elevation around them is treated.
- 8.Work stops if a wall turns out to be wetter inside than out, because cleaning is not the answer to that.
- 9.A pass is made along the wall head where it meets the soffit, since that band greens first and is seen least.
- 10.Application is by low-pressure fan, closer to a garden sprayer than a washer, and the wall is wetted evenly rather than saturated in patches.
Local detail that changes the job
- Typical wall finish here is cob and painted render, which sets the cleaning method.
- Postcode district: TQ7. County: Devon. Approx 15.9 miles from the PL3 base.
- TQ7 covers 7 town hubs and 29 villages or districts in our radius.
- Nearest full coverage hub: Thurlestone (TQ7), South Hams District Council.
- Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
Preparing a farming hamlet property
- Tell us if there is a septic tank and where its outlet sits.
- Note where the electricity meter and consumer unit sit relative to the wall.
- Tell us about any previous treatment that came back quickly, and how quickly.
- Say if you would prefer the front done on a different day from the back.
- Clear the base of the elevation of pots, ornaments and loose paving where you can.
- Tell us where the drains run if the garden has a soakaway rather than a mains connection.
- Tell us if there is a low wall or a step at the base of the elevation that gets slippery.
- Let us know whether the gutters have been cleared in the last couple of years.
Order of work, top down
Glass is done last on any multi-service visit, since it picks up whatever the earlier stages put in the air.
Conservatory roofs go before the wall above them, then get a final rinse afterwards.
If a decorator is due, the wall clean goes in first and is given time to dry fully.
A first clean is heavier work than the ones that follow, so the interval afterwards can be longer than people expect.
Straight answers before you book
- Can you remove ivy marks?
- Suckers can be treated and weathered off, though the shadow of an old ivy run can take a season to fade fully.
- Do you work on bungalows differently?
- Only in that everything is reachable from the ground, which makes the visit shorter.
- Can you clean render on an insulated system?
- Yes, with extra care around bead edges where water should not be driven in.
- Is it safe around pets?
- Keep them indoors during application and for a couple of hours after, and there is nothing to worry about.
- Do you take the waste away?
- There is very little on a wall job. What comes off the surface is rinsed to a drain that can take it.
- Do I need to move my car?
- It helps. If it cannot be moved we sheet it or work around it.
- How soon can the walls be painted afterwards?
- Once fully dry, which in practice means giving it several dry days.
- Do you clean render above a flat roof?
- Yes, with the roof covering sheeted and the drip detail checked.
Other Devon places on the same round
The essentials
Cleaning reveals condition. Sometimes that means finding a repair, and it is better found than hidden under moss. Getting the order of work right protects the money already spent on the parts that were cleaned first. The difference between rinsing and treating is invisible on the day and obvious six months later. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.
Add the gutters while we are there
The gutter run above the wall is usually the reason it stained. Doing both together protects the work.
Quote for a Buckland property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm