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.

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 clean boundary walls too?

If they take the same method as the house, yes, in the same visit.

Will the treatment harm my planting?

Beds are wetted down first so run-off arrives diluted, and rinsing is directed away from anything growing.

What about the smell for neighbours?

Mild and short-lived, and we avoid boundary elevations when someone next door has washing out.

Will the colour come back?

If the original finish is sound, the colour underneath is usually still there and comes back with the growth removed.

There is a mild one during application that clears within a few hours.

TQ9 - Devon - 18.9 miles from PL3

Cornworthy wall cleaning without high pressure

Cornworthy sits in the TQ9 district about 18.9 miles from our base in PL3, and the walls here are typically cob and painted render. That finish decides the method long before anything else does.

Quote for a Cornworthy property

Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm

What helps before we arrive

Say if a conservatory or lean-to abuts the elevation, so glazing can be sheeted.
If you have a pond, a water butt or a wildlife area, point it out in advance.
Say where the outside tap is, and whether it runs at any pressure.
Flag any recent repair or repaint, because fresh work is treated more gently.
Let us know if a neighbour parks under the wall on certain days.
Unlock side gates the night before if you are not going to be in, because a locked passage stops a whole elevation.
Say if there is a wasp or bird nest under the eaves, and we will plan around it.
Say if the property has a flat roof section that we would be working above.

Wall build-ups common in TQ9

Render that has lost its water repellency absorbs surface water instead of shedding it, which extends every damp spell.
Cracks in render change the staining pattern, because water then sits behind the face as well as on it.
A test patch low down and out of sight is how failing paint is found deliberately.
Masonry paint over render adds a film that traps moisture if the substrate was damp when it was applied.
Cob and lime-finished walls are moisture-sensitive by design.
Where cob has been cement-rendered at some point, that render traps moisture and the wall behaves badly.

Diagnosis before treatment

01Where the pattern is a band at the top, the gutter line is doing it.
02Old repair patches are identified early, because they take treatment differently from the surrounding finish.
03Where the pattern is even across the whole face, exposure and aspect are the cause.
04Any staining that continues below ground level is a drainage question, not a cleaning one.
05Cracks are traced to their ends, because a crack that runs to an opening behaves differently from one that stops.
06Nearby properties with the same finish are a useful reference for what is normal on that street.
07Where a wall meets a roof abutment, the flashing is looked at first.
08A fingernail drawn across the growth says more in a second than a photograph does.

Damp, airflow and what feeds growth

Soil banked above the damp course keeps the base of a wall permanently wet.
The lowest metre of any wall takes splash-back off the path and stains from the ground up, not the top down.
Black spotting on white render is a different organism from the green film beside it, and it clears at a different rate.
Bird activity along a gutter line concentrates nutrients on the wall directly below it.
A wall next to a busy road picks up a film of traffic grime that holds moisture on the surface.
Spores travel on the wind and land everywhere. What decides whether they take hold is whether the surface stays damp.
Driven rain sticks to a wall face rather than running off it, which keeps the surface wet long enough for spores to settle.
Concrete render plinths wick moisture upward from the ground more readily than the face above them.
Airflow along a terrace is different from airflow around a detached house, and the drying patterns follow.

Why order matters more than speed

If a decorator is due, the wall clean goes in first and is given time to dry fully.

Where gutters need repair rather than clearing, that goes ahead of any cleaning at all.

Glass is done last on any multi-service visit, since it picks up whatever the earlier stages put in the air.

Block paving cannot be re-sanded until it is dry, which decides the running order in a wet week.

How a softwash visit runs

1.Ridge and verge debris that has landed on the wall head is brushed off dry before anything wet goes on.
2.Where a wall runs straight down to a lawn, a run of sheeting is pegged along the base instead of relying on dilution alone.
3.Access equipment is footed on boards where the ground is soft, so nothing sinks into a lawn.
4.Work stops if a wall turns out to be wetter inside than out, because cleaning is not the answer to that.
5.Downpipe backs and the strip of wall behind them are done by hand, because a sprayed pattern always misses them.
6.Anything found broken before we arrived is photographed before work starts, not after.
7.Timber decking or a doorstep directly under the work is covered rather than rinsed afterwards.
8.Sheeting comes off from the top down so nothing collected on it lands on cleaned work.
9.The elevation is walked first and anything loose, open or already failing is noted before a drop of water goes near it.
10.Fixings for hanging baskets and washing lines are unloaded before the elevation is worked, then put back.

Before you get in touch

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.
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 clean boundary walls too?: If they take the same method as the house, yes, in the same visit.
Will the treatment harm my planting?: Beds are wetted down first so run-off arrives diluted, and rinsing is directed away from anything growing.
What about the smell for neighbours?: Mild and short-lived, and we avoid boundary elevations when someone next door has washing out.
Will the colour come back?: If the original finish is sound, the colour underneath is usually still there and comes back with the growth removed.
Is there a smell?: There is a mild one during application that clears within a few hours.

Read a little further

Where Cornworthy sits on our round

Access is usually via A38.
TQ9 covers 1 town hubs and 15 villages or districts in our radius.
Postcode district: TQ9. County: Devon. Approx 18.9 miles from the PL3 base.
Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
Nearest full coverage hub: South Brent (TQ10), South Hams District Council.

See everywhere we cover in TQ9

Also covered near TQ9

Get the order of work right

Roof, gutters, walls, hard surfaces. Doing it in that order protects each stage.

Sort the order 07830 242403

The short version

The difference between rinsing and treating is invisible on the day and obvious six months later. Shade is not a fault in a house, but it is the reason one elevation always looks worse. Nothing here needs a promise. It needs the correct method on the correct surface.