Green walls in Collaton? Start here
Deep-lane hamlet south-east of Kingsbridge.
Cleaning walls in Collaton is a slow, quiet job done at low pressure. It is nothing like a driveway wash, and on cob and painted render that difference is the whole point.
Working out what is wrong on a Collaton wall
- 01Hollow-sounding render is checked by tapping before any water is put onto it.
- 02Anything that cannot be explained by water is treated with more caution, not less.
- 03A damp meter reading inside a stained corner separates a cleaning job from a building problem.
- 04Where paint is peeling in flakes rather than powdering, adhesion has already gone.
- 05Nearby properties with the same finish are a useful reference for what is normal on that street.
- 06Where a wall meets a roof abutment, the flashing is looked at first.
- 07The first question is whether the staining sits on the surface or has gone into the material, because only one of those cleans off.
- 08A wall that feels chalky under the hand is telling you the coating has aged, not that it is dirty.
Material first, method second
- Modern render, whether sand and cement or a thin-coat system, has a slightly porous face that holds airborne spores.
- Patched render takes treatment differently from the original, which is why patches are identified before work starts.
- Chalking paint is a rougher surface than new paint, which is why older painted walls green faster.
- Masonry paint over render adds a film that traps moisture if the substrate was damp when it was applied.
- The base of a cob wall is the most vulnerable part and is often left alone entirely.
- Cracks in a cob wall are structural information, not cosmetic, and are reported rather than cleaned.
Why this keeps happening on TQ7 elevations
- A wall shaded by its own porch roof for half the day dries at half the rate of the face beside it.
- Growth returns fastest where the underlying cause was never dealt with, which is usually water going somewhere it should not.
- Concrete render plinths wick moisture upward from the ground more readily than the face above them.
- Where two elevations meet in a tight internal corner, neither one dries properly.
- Sheltered gable ends collect airborne spores because there is no wind to move them along.
- Overflowing gutters feed the top of the wall continuously through the wet months.
- A downpipe discharging onto a hard surface next to the wall sends the water straight back at the brickwork.
- A textured coating applied over an already dirty surface holds that dirt as a feeding layer.
- A wall behind a dense fence panel is in still air permanently, and still air never dries anything quickly.
On site in Collaton
- 1.Where a wall runs straight down to a lawn, a run of sheeting is pegged along the base instead of relying on dilution alone.
- 2.Chimney stacks are treated from a position that keeps the operator off the roof covering entirely.
- 3.Cable clips, aerial brackets and old fixings are noted, and loose ones are left rather than pushed further.
- 4.Painted elevations get a small test patch first, low down and out of sight, so failing paint is found deliberately rather than by accident.
- 5.A pass along the underside of the soffit catches the black spotting that everyone forgets until the wall is clean.
- 6.Ground-level splash marks are worked separately from the main face, since they are silt rather than growth.
- 7.The colour keeps improving for a fortnight after the visit as dead growth loses its grip and weathers away.
- 8.Every hose junction is checked before pressure goes on, because a burst at a coupling floods a border.
- 9.On thin-coat systems the lance is kept moving, because holding it still in one place is how a shadow mark gets left behind.
- 10.The job is worked one elevation at a time from end to end so that nothing dries out mid-wall.
Local detail that changes the job
- TQ7 covers 7 town hubs and 29 villages or districts in our radius.
- Typical wall finish here is cob and painted render, which sets the cleaning method.
- Kingsbridge sits about 2.3 miles from Collaton on our round, so visits are often shared.
- Postcode district: TQ7. County: Devon. Approx 18.1 miles from the PL3 base.
- Access is usually via A379 and A381.
Preparing a farming hamlet property
- Tell us if a gutter has been overflowing, because that changes what we look at first.
- If there are children's toys or a trampoline against the wall, they need to move.
- Mention shared access or a right of way that we will be crossing.
- Note where the electricity meter and consumer unit sit relative to the wall.
- If you have a pond, a water butt or a wildlife area, point it out in advance.
- Tell us if there is a low wall or a step at the base of the elevation that gets slippery.
- Say if you would prefer the front done on a different day from the back.
- Flag any recent repair or repaint, because fresh work is treated more gently.
Planning a full exterior in Collaton
If a decorator is due, the wall clean goes in first and is given time to dry fully.
Patio joints are checked before the wall above them is treated, since loose sand washes into puddles.
Roof work always precedes wall work, because everything released from the slope lands on the elevation below it.
Booking services out of order is the commonest reason a clean seems not to have lasted.
Asked most often in TQ7
- Will the drive get messy?
- Anything below the elevation is rinsed off before we finish.
- Can lichen be removed completely?
- The organism is killed, and what is left weathers off. Deeply rooted lichen on stone can take a season to fade.
- Will the treatment harm my planting?
- Beds are wetted down first so run-off arrives diluted, and rinsing is directed away from anything growing.
- Do you need my electricity?
- No. Kit runs off the van.
- How long does a visit take?
- A typical two-elevation job is a few hours. A full wrap-around on a larger property is a day.
- Can you tell from a photo whether it will clean up?
- Usually yes for surface growth. Staining that is in the material is harder to judge without seeing it.
- 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 work weekends?
- We work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.
Close to Collaton
Collaton wall softwash, in short
If a previous clean did not last, the cause was probably never dealt with. Method, dwell, rinse, check. There is nothing else to it. Water in the wrong place explains most tired elevations, and it is cheaper to fix than to keep cleaning.
Ask what method we would use
Tell us what the wall is finished in and we will tell you exactly how we would approach it before any money is discussed.
Quote for a Collaton property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm