PL14 - Cornwall - 16.3 miles from PL3
Cleaning tired walls in Common Moor
Common Moor property owners usually call about colour rather than dirt. Growth flattens the tone of a granite finish long before anyone would call the wall unclean.
The wall finishes we meet around PL14
- Treatment kills lichen and lets it weather off, which is slower to look finished than a pressure wash but leaves the face intact.
- Deeply rooted lichen on granite can take a full season to fade after treatment.
- Where granite has been repointed in cement, that band behaves differently from the rest of the wall.
- Iron staining from old fixings in granite is a separate problem from growth.
Conditions around Common Moor that feed growth
- Painted walls chalk with age, and chalked paint is a rougher surface than new paint.
- Where a downpipe discharges into a gully that has silted, the overflow soaks the wall base each winter.
- North-east corners hold frost longest and thaw slowest, which extends the damp window every morning.
- Driven rain sticks to a wall face rather than running off it, which keeps the surface wet long enough for spores to settle.
- Wall growth often maps exactly to where a previous extension roof used to sit.
- Growth thickest at head height usually means splash from a hard surface rather than run-off from above.
- Cold bridging at a lintel can keep a narrow band of render damper than everything around it.
- Black spotting on white render is a different organism from the green film beside it, and it clears at a different rate.
- Pebbledash holds water in the shadow of every stone, so it stays damp long after a flat render has dried.
Checks made before anything is applied
- 01A test patch at low strength shows what the surface will do before the full elevation commits to it.
- 02The underside of the soffit is checked, because staining there rarely stays there.
- 03Where a wall meets a roof abutment, the flashing is looked at first.
- 04A short section of hose test shows whether run-off drains away or ponds at the base.
- 05Where the pattern is a band at the bottom, splash from the ground is doing it.
- 06The angle of morning sun on the elevation tells you how long it stays damp.
- 07The direction the growth thickens in points at the source of the moisture.
- 08Whether the property is exposed or sheltered is judged on the day, not from a map.
What happens on the day
- 1.Photographs are taken of anything found in poor condition, so it can be shown rather than described.
- 2.Hoses run outside gates where children or dogs are about, and gates are closed behind us each time.
- 3.The elevation is walked first and anything loose, open or already failing is noted before a drop of water goes near it.
- 4.Old paint flakes are removed by hand before treatment rather than blown around by water.
- 5.The mix is made up in small batches as the work moves, rather than one large batch that stands and weakens.
- 6.Any garden furniture within the spray arc moves before the mix is made up, not while the lance is running.
- 7.Access equipment is footed on boards where the ground is soft, so nothing sinks into a lawn.
- 8.Where the growth sits mostly in the lower metre, that band is treated twice and the rest once.
- 9.Where a property has solar panels on a wall-facing slope, the array is sheeted before treatment starts below.
- 10.The strength of mix is stepped up only after a weaker one has been given its full dwell and judged.
Access and preparation
- Say if any part of the wall has been jet washed before, and roughly when.
- Say whether the elevation backs onto a public footpath.
- Note the position of the stopcock in case the outside tap needs isolating.
- Note where hoses can be run without crossing a doorway.
- Point out any alarm sensor mounted externally on the elevation.
- Trim back anything that has grown tight against the wall, or ask us to work around it.
- Point out ground-floor windows that are painted shut, as they need different masking.
- Say where the outside tap is, and whether it runs at any pressure.
Coverage and travel
- PL14 covers 8 town hubs and 14 villages or districts in our radius.
- Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
- Access is usually via A38 and A390.
- Typical wall finish here is granite, which sets the cleaning method.
- Postcode district: PL14. County: Cornwall. Approx 16.3 miles from the PL3 base.
Asked most often in PL14
- What if part of the wall does not come up?
- It is left to weather rather than pushed harder, and we will say what we think is happening.
- Do you need scaffolding?
- Rarely. Most elevations are reached from the ground with a telescopic lance.
- What if the render is hollow in places?
- It is tapped and mapped first, and hollow sections are treated dry-side only rather than soaked.
- Can the whole house be done in one go?
- Often, depending on size and access. Larger properties split naturally into two visits.
- What is the difference between this and a wash down?
- A wash down removes what you can see. A treatment removes what is growing, which is not the same thing.
- Do you clean stonework?
- Yes, with the method set by the softest part of the wall, which is almost always the mortar.
- Can you clean a wall with an electric meter on it?
- Yes. The box is bagged before anything is applied around it.
- Do I need to move my car?
- It helps. If it cannot be moved we sheet it or work around it.
Close to Common Moor
Useful pages alongside this one
One visit for the whole outside
Where it fits in a day, everything gets planned into a single trip.
Common Moor wall softwash, in short
A maintenance pass is far lighter work than a first clean, and it stays that way. Nothing on this page needs a site visit to price if you can send a couple of clear photographs. Every visit ends with the elevation judged from where people actually see it.
Quote for a Common Moor property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm