Wall cleaning for farming hamlet property in Kelly
Kelly House estate parish.
We work Kelly as part of the Lifton round, which keeps travel down. Wall softwash is the service most often asked about here because painted stone and render shows growth earlier than brick does.
Quote for a Kelly property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
Shade, damp and run-off
- A split downpipe puts a single wet stripe down an elevation, and that stripe goes green months before anything either side of it.
- Algae needs moisture far more than it needs dirt, so the wettest elevation greens first regardless of how clean the house is.
- Where a chimney is no longer used, rain that once dried out now sits in the stack and shows on the wall below.
- Guttering that has dropped at one end holds standing water and drips continuously at the low point.
- Growth that appears in a neat rectangle usually marks something that was leaning against the wall.
- 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.
- A wall shaded by its own porch roof for half the day dries at half the rate of the face beside it.
- Growth on a painted wall often sits on top of a paint film that has already begun to chalk.
Kelly at a glance
- Nearest full coverage hub: Lifton (PL16), West Devon Borough Council.
- PL16 covers 1 town hubs and 3 villages or districts in our radius.
- Postcode district: PL16. County: Devon. Approx 17.4 miles from the PL3 base.
- Lifton sits about 4.7 miles from Kelly on our round, so visits are often shared.
- Recorded character: farming hamlet. Kelly House estate parish.
Surfaces this page is written for
- Thin-coat systems are thinner than people assume, and a jet held still in one place leaves a permanent shadow.
- Coloured through-render fades gradually, so what looks like dirt on an older wall is sometimes age in the finish.
- That gets pointed out before work starts rather than discovered halfway through.
- A weaker mix and a longer wait suits paint better than anything stronger and faster.
- 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.
Reading the surface
- 01Where the pattern is a band at the bottom, splash from the ground is doing it.
- 02The direction the growth thickens in points at the source of the moisture.
- 03Where the pattern is a band at the top, the gutter line is doing it.
- 04Old repair patches are identified early, because they take treatment differently from the surrounding finish.
- 05Whether the growth has spread onto glass and frames tells you how long it has been established.
- 06Whether the property is exposed or sheltered is judged on the day, not from a map.
- 07The angle of morning sun on the elevation tells you how long it stays damp.
- 08Cracks are traced to their ends, because a crack that runs to an opening behaves differently from one that stops.
Sequencing the outside of the house
Where a roof clean is planned for later in the year, walls are worth leaving until after it.
If a decorator is due, the wall clean goes in first and is given time to dry fully.
Small repairs to pointing are best done after cleaning, when what needs doing is visible.
Where gutters need repair rather than clearing, that goes ahead of any cleaning at all.
Before the day in Kelly
- Say if the property has a flat roof section that we would be working above.
- Clear the base of the elevation of pots, ornaments and loose paving where you can.
- Say if there is a wasp or bird nest under the eaves, and we will plan around it.
- Mention whether the drive drains to a soakaway that already struggles in heavy rain.
- Note the position of the stopcock in case the outside tap needs isolating.
- Flag any recent repair or repaint, because fresh work is treated more gently.
- Point out where the render was patched, since patches clean differently from the original.
- Tell us where the drains run if the garden has a soakaway rather than a mains connection.
Nearby villages and districts
Common questions about wall softwash
- What about air bricks and vents?
- Covered for the duration, uncovered before we leave.
- Can two elevations be done on separate days?
- Yes, and splitting a larger property over two visits is normal.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- Can the whole outside be planned in one go?
- Yes, and getting the order right matters more than doing it all at once.
- Will the wall need doing again next year?
- Not usually. How long it holds depends on shade, run-off and airflow rather than on the treatment.
Talk to the person doing the work
The number goes to the people on the tools, not to a call centre reading a script.
More on walls and PL16 coverage
In a sentence or two
A wall in poor condition is better found before cleaning than discovered halfway through. Gentle and patient beats fast and forceful on any coated finish. If a previous clean did not last, the cause was probably never dealt with.