Wall cleaning for village property in Quethiock Village
Ancient churchyard cross parish north of Landrake.
Quethiock Village sits in the PL14 district about 11.4 miles from our base in PL3, and the walls here are typically painted render and cob. That finish decides the method long before anything else does.
Quote for a Quethiock Village property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
Shade, damp and run-off
- A patio laid up against a wall reflects splash onto it every time it rains hard.
- Where two elevations meet in a tight internal corner, neither one dries properly.
- Ivy pulled off a wall leaves suckers and a shaded, damp face that greens quickly afterwards.
- A conservatory or extension roof abutting a wall throws water back at it every time it rains.
- Silt washed down from the roof leaves a thin feeding layer on the render below.
- Rain shadow works both ways: the sheltered face stays dry of rain but also of the washing that rain provides.
- Airflow through a passage between two houses is fast but the passage itself is in permanent shade.
- A drying rack or store built against a wall keeps that panel of it permanently shaded.
- Salt-laden air roughens exposed surfaces slightly, and rougher surfaces hold more moisture.
Quethiock Village at a glance
- Quethiock sits about 3.7 miles from Quethiock Village on our round, so visits are often shared.
- Recorded character: village. Ancient churchyard cross parish north of Landrake.
- Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
- PL14 covers 8 town hubs and 14 villages or districts in our radius.
- Nearest full coverage hub: Quethiock (PL14), Cornwall Council.
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.
- Cracks in render change the staining pattern, because water then sits behind the face as well as on it.
- Painted masonry can be cleaned, though a paint film that has already lost adhesion will lift where it was going to fail anyway.
- A test patch low down and out of sight is how failing paint is found deliberately.
- Cob and lime-finished walls are moisture-sensitive by design.
- Limewash over cob is sacrificial and will lift if treated as though it were masonry paint.
Reading the surface
- 01The elevation is read from the pavement first and from a metre away second.
- 02A fingernail drawn across the growth says more in a second than a photograph does.
- 03The state of the pointing is judged at the most exposed corner, not the most convenient one.
- 04Where the pattern is a band at the bottom, splash from the ground is doing it.
- 05Photographs taken before work provide the reference for judging the result later.
- 06Where paint is peeling in flakes rather than powdering, adhesion has already gone.
- 07The mortar is tested with a key at a discreet point, since soft mortar sets the whole method.
- 08Where the pattern is vertical and narrow, plumbing is looked at before chemistry is.
Sequencing the outside of the house
Solar panels are cleaned separately from the roof slope they sit on, and after it.
Where gutters need repair rather than clearing, that goes ahead of any cleaning at all.
Where a soakaway is already struggling, wall work is planned for a drier stretch.
Conservatory roofs go before the wall above them, then get a final rinse afterwards.
Before the day in Quethiock Village
- If there are children's toys or a trampoline against the wall, they need to move.
- Bring in washing, cushions and anything fabric that lives against the wall.
- Unlock side gates the night before if you are not going to be in, because a locked passage stops a whole elevation.
- Let us know if anyone in the house works nights and needs quiet at a particular time.
- Trim back anything that has grown tight against the wall, or ask us to work around it.
- Move cars off a drive that runs tight to the house if you can, and tell us if you cannot.
- Say where the outside tap is, and whether it runs at any pressure.
- If you have a pond, a water butt or a wildlife area, point it out in advance.
Also covered near PL14
Before you get in touch
- 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.
- Can you clean a wall before painting?
- Yes, and it should be done first. Paint over live growth fails from underneath.
- Will it strip my paint?
- Sound paint is unaffected. Paint that has already lost adhesion may lift, which is why a test patch goes on first.
- Do you cover air bricks the whole time?
- Covered while the wall around them is worked and uncovered before we go.
- Do you treat mortar joints separately?
- The method is set by the mortar because it is nearly always the softest thing on the wall.
- Do you clean boundary walls too?
- If they take the same method as the house, yes, in the same visit.
- What if the render is hollow in places?
- It is tapped and mapped first, and hollow sections are treated dry-side only rather than soaked.
- Should I fix the downpipe before or after?
- Before, if it is the cause. Cleaning around a live leak puts the stain straight back.
Saturday works too
Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm, so it need not eat your working week.
The short version
A wall is part of a system that includes the roof above it and the ground below it. A treated wall keeps changing for a fortnight, which is the sign the method worked. An honest no is worth more than a job that was never going to work. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.