Does the treatment stain paving?

No, and paving below the elevation is rinsed at the end anyway.

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.

Do you clean boundary walls too?

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

Do you leave a written record of what was done?

Photographs of before and after the visit, plus anything found in poor condition.

Should the gutters be done at the same time?

Usually. Overflow is behind a large share of wall staining, so clearing it protects the work.

Will it damage the pointing?

No. That is exactly what pressure does and softwash avoids.

Can you deal with black spotting on white render?

That is usually a fungal spot rather than algae. It responds to treatment but often needs a second lighter pass.

Do you use a pressure washer at all on a wall visit?

Only on hard surfaces below it, like paving, and never on the wall finish itself.

PL14 - Cornwall - 15.8 miles from PL3

Green walls in Herodsfoot? Start here

This page is about one job in one place: cleaning painted stone and render walls in Herodsfoot, Cornwall. Softwash means chemistry and dwell time doing the work rather than pressure.

The wall finishes we meet around PL14

Where render sits over insulation, the wall is more sensitive still and the mix is weakened accordingly.
Patched render takes treatment differently from the original, which is why patches are identified before work starts.
Painted masonry can be cleaned, though a paint film that has already lost adhesion will lift where it was going to fail anyway.
Gloss-painted details like cills are wiped rather than sprayed.
Method is set by the softest thing on the wall, not the hardest.
Treatment on stone is applied in stages so it soaks into the joints rather than running off the faces.

Conditions around Herodsfoot that feed growth

Where a chimney is no longer used, rain that once dried out now sits in the stack and shows on the wall below.
Where a wall carries a heavy climbing plant, the fabric behind it is nearly always damper than the rest.
A single missing tile above an elevation can put water onto the same square metre for years.
Salt-laden air roughens exposed surfaces slightly, and rougher surfaces hold more moisture.
A wall shielded by a car port dries slowly because it never sees direct sun or driven rain.
A wall that faces a large expanse of glass on another building gets less sun than its aspect suggests.
Where two properties share a wall of different finishes, the finishes weather at different speeds and look mismatched.
A wall that never takes direct sun stays damp for hours after everything else has dried, and that extra time is the whole story.
Low winter sun never reaches the bottom third of a wall behind a fence, and it shows.

Checks made before anything is applied

01Whether the growth has spread onto glass and frames tells you how long it has been established.
02Anything that cannot be explained by water is treated with more caution, not less.
03The ground level relative to the damp course is checked before the base of a wall is treated.
04The state of the pointing is judged at the most exposed corner, not the most convenient one.
05A slow walk of the gutter line from the ground finds most of the causes worth fixing.
06A wall that feels chalky under the hand is telling you the coating has aged, not that it is dirty.
07Whether the render is thin-coat or traditional is checked at a bead or a reveal.
08A wall that is warmer than its neighbours on a cold morning is likely holding moisture.

What happens on the day

1.Neighbouring cars and windows are checked before spraying starts on a boundary elevation.
2.The treatment is mixed to the surface, not to a fixed recipe, and a delicate finish gets a weaker mix and a longer wait.
3.Mortar joints that have already lost material are pointed out and left alone rather than washed further open.
4.Any surface that will be walked on afterwards is left rinsed rather than left with residue.
5.Chimney stacks are treated from a position that keeps the operator off the roof covering entirely.
6.Fence panels tight against a wall are wetted first so run-off does not sit on dry timber.
7.Water is drawn from an outside tap where there is one, and carried on the van where there is not.
8.Where a wall carries a satellite dish or cable run, the fixings are checked before they get wet.
9.Weep holes above openings are left clear so the wall can drain the way it was designed to.
10.Access equipment is footed on boards where the ground is soft, so nothing sinks into a lawn.

Access and preparation

Mention any glazing you already know is cracked before work starts.
Say if you would prefer the front done on a different day from the back.
Let us know whether the gutters have been cleared in the last couple of years.
Move cars off a drive that runs tight to the house if you can, and tell us if you cannot.
If there are children's toys or a trampoline against the wall, they need to move.
Note any external socket or garden power run near the base of the wall.
Tell us if there is a septic tank and where its outlet sits.
Say whether the elevation backs onto a public footpath.

Coverage and travel

PL14 covers 8 town hubs and 14 villages or districts in our radius.
Liskeard sits about 1.6 miles from Herodsfoot on our round, so visits are often shared.
Typical wall finish here is painted stone and render, which sets the cleaning method.
Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
Postcode district: PL14. County: Cornwall. Approx 15.8 miles from the PL3 base.

See everywhere we cover in PL14

Practical questions answered

Does the treatment stain paving?: No, and paving below the elevation is rinsed at the end anyway.
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.
Do you clean boundary walls too?: If they take the same method as the house, yes, in the same visit.
Do you leave a written record of what was done?: Photographs of before and after the visit, plus anything found in poor condition.
Should the gutters be done at the same time?: Usually. Overflow is behind a large share of wall staining, so clearing it protects the work.
Will it damage the pointing?: No. That is exactly what pressure does and softwash avoids.
Can you deal with black spotting on white render?: That is usually a fungal spot rather than algae. It responds to treatment but often needs a second lighter pass.
Do you use a pressure washer at all on a wall visit?: Only on hard surfaces below it, like paving, and never on the wall finish itself.

Neighbouring places we work

Ask about doing it in stages

Front now, the rest later is a perfectly sensible way to do it.

Ask about stages 07830 242403

Summary

A wall is part of a system that includes the roof above it and the ground below it. Written price first, method matched to the surface, then the work. In that order. Walls, gutters and roof are one system. Cleaning one and ignoring the others is why results disappoint. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.

Quote for a Herodsfoot property

Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm