PL13 - Cornwall - 15.1 miles from PL3
Wall cleaning for farming hamlet property in Morval
Everything below applies to painted render and cob elevations in Morval, inside the PL13 area we cover in full. The method is set by the surface and the exposure, and nothing else changes it.
Quote for a Morval property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
What helps before we arrive
- Tell us if a fence panel is loose, because sheeting gets pegged to something solid.
- Point out any alarm sensor mounted externally on the elevation.
- Mention any glazing you already know is cracked before work starts.
- Unlock side gates the night before if you are not going to be in, because a locked passage stops a whole elevation.
- Say if the elevation is overlooked by a neighbouring window that should stay shut.
- Tell us about any previous treatment that came back quickly, and how quickly.
- If a security light or camera covers the elevation, tell us so it can be isolated.
- Let us know if scaffold or a tower is already up for other work.
Wall build-ups common in PL13
- Render cleans up well at low pressure and badly at high pressure, because pressure removes the finish along with the growth.
- Patched render takes treatment differently from the original, which is why patches are identified before work starts.
- Peeling in flakes means adhesion has gone; powdering under the hand means the surface has simply aged.
- Gloss-painted details like cills are wiped rather than sprayed.
- Cracks in a cob wall are structural information, not cosmetic, and are reported rather than cleaned.
- Thatch or deep eaves above cob change how much of the wall ever gets wet.
Diagnosis before treatment
- 01The ground level relative to the damp course is checked before the base of a wall is treated.
- 02Where a wall meets a roof abutment, the flashing is looked at first.
- 03The presence of moss rather than algae suggests standing water rather than damp air.
- 04The angle of morning sun on the elevation tells you how long it stays damp.
- 05Where the pattern is a band at the bottom, splash from the ground is doing it.
- 06A short section of hose test shows whether run-off drains away or ponds at the base.
- 07Hollow-sounding render is checked by tapping before any water is put onto it.
- 08The condition of the cills tells you how much water has been running down the face.
Damp, airflow and what feeds growth
- Roof valleys concentrate run-off, so the wall under a valley outlet is loaded more heavily than anywhere else.
- A wall behind a dense fence panel is in still air permanently, and still air never dries anything quickly.
- Algae needs moisture far more than it needs dirt, so the wettest elevation greens first regardless of how clean the house is.
- Salt spray does not itself grow, but it roughens and holds damp, which is the same outcome.
- Overflowing gutters feed the top of the wall continuously through the wet months.
- Render laid over a colder substrate holds surface condensation into the morning.
- A wall under a mature hedge takes both shade and constant leaf litter, which is the worst pairing there is.
- Driven rain sticks to a wall face rather than running off it, which keeps the surface wet long enough for spores to settle.
- Where a wall was cleaned without a biocide, the regrowth is often patchier and faster than the original.
Sequencing the outside of the house
Gutters are cleared between the roof and the walls, so the first heavy rain does not restain a finished elevation.
Where the property is being sold, walls are the single most visible thing to do first.
A wall treated in autumn goes into winter clean, which is when it matters most.
Anything that involves opening a gutter is done before the ground beneath it is cleaned.
How a softwash visit runs
- 1.Rinsing, where it is needed at all, runs top down at a pressure you could hold your hand in front of.
- 2.Corners are worked from both directions so the overlap sits in the angle and not on the open face.
- 3.External drains below the work are covered with a grate mat and cleared before we leave.
- 4.The finished elevation is looked at from the pavement, not from the ladder, because that is where it will be seen from.
- 5.Rainwater goods are checked while the elevation is being worked, since a blocked hopper explains most single-strip staining.
- 6.Treatments are kept away from vegetable beds entirely, with those sections sheeted rather than diluted.
- 7.Painted elevations get a small test patch first, low down and out of sight, so failing paint is found deliberately rather than by accident.
- 8.Reach is taken from the ground with a telescopic lance wherever the elevation allows, which keeps ladders off soft render.
- 9.Mortar joints that have already lost material are pointed out and left alone rather than washed further open.
- 10.Chimney stacks are treated from a position that keeps the operator off the roof covering entirely.
Common questions about wall softwash
- Do you have a minimum size of job?
- A single gable or a porch is still worth doing properly.
- How soon can the walls be painted afterwards?
- Once fully dry, which in practice means giving it several dry days.
- What if I only want the front done?
- That is the most common request on this kind of job.
- Can you clean a wall before painting?
- Yes, and it should be done first. Paint over live growth fails from underneath.
- Can you work around a conservatory?
- The glazing is sheeted first and given a rinse at the end.
- What happens if it rains on the day?
- Light rain is workable. Persistent rain moves the visit rather than compromising the treatment.
- How do you price the work?
- By elevation area and access, put in writing before anything starts.
- How long before I can repaint?
- Several dry days after the wall has been treated and rinsed.
Where Morval sits on our round
- Typical wall finish here is painted render and cob, which sets the cleaning method.
- Recorded character: farming hamlet. Estate parish north-east of Looe.
- Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
- Access is usually via A387.
- Nearest full coverage hub: Looe (PL13), Cornwall Council.
Nearby villages and districts
Painting soon?
Walls should be treated and fully dry before a brush goes near them. Tell us the decorating date and we will work back from it.
In a sentence or two
Read the staining pattern first and the answer usually names itself. If a wall is greening in one strip, the answer is usually plumbing rather than cleaning. Small jobs get the same sequence as large ones, just fewer elevations.