PL13 - Cornwall - 15.9 miles from PL3
Murrayton (PL13) render softwash
If the walls on your Murrayton property have gone patchy or green, the finish itself is usually sound. Woodland setting of the Monkey Sanctuary, and growth on painted stone and render sits on the surface rather than in the structure.
Quote for a Murrayton property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
What helps before we arrive
- Tell us if there is a septic tank and where its outlet sits.
- Close and latch every window on the elevations being worked, including any small top lights.
- Tell us where the drains run if the garden has a soakaway rather than a mains connection.
- Mention whether the drive drains to a soakaway that already struggles in heavy rain.
- Clear the base of the elevation of pots, ornaments and loose paving where you can.
- If there are children's toys or a trampoline against the wall, they need to move.
- Note the position of the stopcock in case the outside tap needs isolating.
- Say whether the side passage is wide enough for a wheeled kit trolley.
Wall build-ups common in PL13
- A rendered plinth takes more water than the face above it and is usually the first band to look tired.
- Patched render takes treatment differently from the original, which is why patches are identified before work starts.
- Where a painted wall has been patch-repainted, the patches clean at a different rate.
- Painted plinths take splash and are worked as a separate band from the main face.
- Stone elevations vary enormously in hardness, and the pointing is usually the weakest part.
- Copings on stone boundary walls take the worst of the weather and the worst of the growth.
Diagnosis before treatment
- 01The mortar is tested with a key at a discreet point, since soft mortar sets the whole method.
- 02The condition of the cills tells you how much water has been running down the face.
- 03Whether the growth has spread onto glass and frames tells you how long it has been established.
- 04Where a wall meets a roof abutment, the flashing is looked at first.
- 05The angle of morning sun on the elevation tells you how long it stays damp.
- 06The elevation is read from the pavement first and from a metre away second.
- 07The first question is whether the staining sits on the surface or has gone into the material, because only one of those cleans off.
- 08Previous cleaning is usually visible as a slightly different texture rather than a different colour.
Damp, airflow and what feeds growth
- Once lichen is established it holds water itself, which makes the surface beneath it wetter than it started.
- A wall shaded by its own porch roof for half the day dries at half the rate of the face beside it.
- Cold bridging at a lintel can keep a narrow band of render damper than everything around it.
- Nutrients from a nearby feeding lawn or planting drift onto a wall and give growth something to work with.
- Prevailing wind decides which elevation takes driven rain, and that elevation is nearly always the tired-looking one.
- Rain shadow works both ways: the sheltered face stays dry of rain but also of the washing that rain provides.
- Algae needs moisture far more than it needs dirt, so the wettest elevation greens first regardless of how clean the house is.
- Rendered plinths take more water than the main face and are usually the first thing to look tired.
- Wall growth often maps exactly to where a previous extension roof used to sit.
Where wall work sits in a Murrayton visit
Where scaffolding is going up for other work, the wall clean is easier and safer while it is standing.
Conservatory roofs go before the wall above them, then get a final rinse afterwards.
Where a roof clean is planned for later in the year, walls are worth leaving until after it.
Where gutters need repair rather than clearing, that goes ahead of any cleaning at all.
How a softwash visit runs
- 1.Heavy lichen gets a second lighter application on a later visit instead of an increase in pressure on the first.
- 2.The job is worked one elevation at a time from end to end so that nothing dries out mid-wall.
- 3.Boundary walls and gate piers are treated in the same visit only if they take the same method as the house.
- 4.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.
- 5.Cills, frames and glass are wiped down as the masking comes off, so nothing dries as a film on the joinery.
- 6.The van is parked so hoses do not cross a footpath, and matting goes down where they have to.
- 7.Where a property has solar panels on a wall-facing slope, the array is sheeted before treatment starts below.
- 8.Sheeting comes off from the top down so nothing collected on it lands on cleaned work.
- 9.The colour keeps improving for a fortnight after the visit as dead growth loses its grip and weathers away.
- 10.A wall backing onto a public pavement is worked at times that keep the spray arc away from passers-by.
Questions Murrayton owners ask
- 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.
- 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.
- Will you tell me if the job is not worth doing?
- Yes. If the staining is in the substrate rather than on it, cleaning will not change much and we will say so.
- Is thin-coat render different from sand and cement?
- Yes, and it is more sensitive. Thin-coat systems get a weaker mix and a longer dwell rather than more pressure.
- Do you work weekends?
- We work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.
- What about the neighbour's side?
- We only work surfaces you own or have permission for, and we check before spraying near a boundary.
- 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 timber cladding treated the same way?
- No. Cladding takes a weaker mix, and pressure is avoided entirely because it raises the grain.
Guides worth a look first
Where Murrayton sits on our round
- Access is usually via A387.
- PL13 covers 3 town hubs and 14 villages or districts in our radius.
- 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.
- Looe sits about 3.5 miles from Murrayton on our round, so visits are often shared.
Within a short run of Murrayton
Get it written down
Scope and price in writing before anything starts, so there is nothing to argue about afterwards.
To sum up for PL13
Water in the wrong place explains most tired elevations, and it is cheaper to fix than to keep cleaning. Nothing on this page needs a site visit to price if you can send a couple of clear photographs. If a previous clean did not last, the cause was probably never dealt with.