Luckett exterior wall softwash, Cornwall
painted stone and render walls, slate roofs, 13.4 miles from the yard.
We work Luckett as part of the Callington 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.
The Cornwall detail
- Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
- PL17 covers 2 town hubs and 7 villages or districts in our radius.
- Callington sits about 0.4 miles from Luckett on our round, so visits are often shared.
- Postcode district: PL17. County: Cornwall. Approx 13.4 miles from the PL3 base.
- Typical wall finish here is painted stone and render, which sets the cleaning method.
painted stone and render and what it needs
- Bead edges and stop ends on a rendered elevation are the details worth protecting from driven water.
- Coloured through-render fades gradually, so what looks like dirt on an older wall is sometimes age in the finish.
- Peeling in flakes means adhesion has gone; powdering under the hand means the surface has simply aged.
- A weaker mix and a longer wait suits paint better than anything stronger and faster.
- Loose stones and open joints are recorded and left alone rather than washed.
- Lime mortar in a stone wall is softer than the stone by design, and that design is worth respecting.
Application, dwell and rinse
- 1.A short rinse of the whole face at the end removes residue rather than removing growth, which is a different job done at a different pressure.
- 2.Where a wall carries a satellite dish or cable run, the fixings are checked before they get wet.
- 3.Cable clips, aerial brackets and old fixings are noted, and loose ones are left rather than pushed further.
- 4.Where a bay window projects, its cheeks are treated separately from the main face to avoid a shadow line.
- 5.Work stops if a wall turns out to be wetter inside than out, because cleaning is not the answer to that.
- 6.Corners are worked from both directions so the overlap sits in the angle and not on the open face.
- 7.The finished wall is photographed in the same light as the start photograph, so the comparison is honest.
- 8.Dwell time is the active ingredient. The treatment is left on the growth long enough to kill it rather than being chased off with water.
- 9.On render below a flat roof edge, the drip detail is checked, because a failed one puts the stain straight back.
- 10.Anything found broken before we arrived is photographed before work starts, not after.
The survey we do in Luckett
- 01The elevation is read from the pavement first and from a metre away second.
- 02A wall that is warmer than its neighbours on a cold morning is likely holding moisture.
- 03A wall that feels chalky under the hand is telling you the coating has aged, not that it is dirty.
- 04The state of the pointing is judged at the most exposed corner, not the most convenient one.
- 05The direction the growth thickens in points at the source of the moisture.
- 06Whether the property is exposed or sheltered is judged on the day, not from a map.
- 07Where the pattern is vertical and narrow, plumbing is looked at before chemistry is.
- 08Cracks are traced to their ends, because a crack that runs to an opening behaves differently from one that stops.
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 the property is being sold, walls are the single most visible thing to do first.
A first clean is heavier work than the ones that follow, so the interval afterwards can be longer than people expect.
Where gutters need repair rather than clearing, that goes ahead of any cleaning at all.
What to tell us in advance
- Say if any part of the wall has been jet washed before, and roughly when.
- Let us know whether the gutters have been cleared in the last couple of years.
- Note where the electricity meter and consumer unit sit relative to the wall.
- Note the position of the stopcock in case the outside tap needs isolating.
- Let us know if anyone in the house works nights and needs quiet at a particular time.
- Let us know if scaffold or a tower is already up for other work.
- Tell us if there is a low wall or a step at the base of the elevation that gets slippery.
- Mention any cladding or timber detail that you would rather was left alone.
Practical questions answered
- Do you clean chimney stacks?
- Where they can be reached safely from a position that keeps us off the roof covering.
- Do you clean render above a flat roof?
- Yes, with the roof covering sheeted and the drip detail checked.
- How is a quote put together?
- By elevation area, surface type and access, written down before anything starts.
- Do you work on flats and shared buildings?
- Yes, with permission from whoever is responsible for the elevation.
- Do you have a minimum size of job?
- A single gable or a porch is still worth doing properly.
- 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.
- Can you remove ivy marks?
- Suckers can be treated and weathered off, though the shadow of an old ivy run can take a season to fade fully.
- Do you work weekends?
- We work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.
Related reading for Luckett walls
Neighbouring places we work
Summary
Walls, gutters and roof are one system. Cleaning one and ignoring the others is why results disappoint. Softwash suits coated and textured finishes precisely because those are the finishes pressure ruins. Small jobs get the same sequence as large ones, just fewer elevations. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.
Send two photos, near and far
One from the pavement and one from a metre away is usually enough to work from.
Quote for a Luckett property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm