Softwashing painted render and stone walls around Sheviock
painted render and stone walls, slate roofs, 9.7 miles from the yard.
Wall cleaning in Sheviock is mostly a question of what the wall is made of. A374 church-tower village. The nearest hub we cover in depth is Torpoint, and the building stock here follows the same pattern.
Quote for a Sheviock property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
Why walls green up in Sheviock
- Where a wall carries a heavy climbing plant, the fabric behind it is nearly always damper than the rest.
- A textured coating applied over an already dirty surface holds that dirt as a feeding layer.
- The first sign is usually a faint grey cast rather than green, and grey is easier to ignore.
- A wall that never takes direct sun stays damp for hours after everything else has dried, and that extra time is the whole story.
- Salt-laden air roughens exposed surfaces slightly, and rougher surfaces hold more moisture.
- Where a gutter joint weeps rather than pours, the stain is thin, vertical and very persistent.
- Ground-level render behind a planted border is wet from irrigation as much as from weather.
- Once lichen is established it holds water itself, which makes the surface beneath it wetter than it started.
- Black spotting on white render is a different organism from the green film beside it, and it clears at a different rate.
What the staining pattern tells us
- 01A short section of hose test shows whether run-off drains away or ponds at the base.
- 02Cracks are traced to their ends, because a crack that runs to an opening behaves differently from one that stops.
- 03Where the wall carries a previous coating over render, its edges are inspected for lifting.
- 04The state of the pointing is judged at the most exposed corner, not the most convenient one.
- 05Photographs taken before work provide the reference for judging the result later.
- 06The elevation is read from the pavement first and from a metre away second.
- 07The presence of moss rather than algae suggests standing water rather than damp air.
- 08Weep holes are counted and checked for blockage while the wall is being read.
Getting a Sheviock property ready
- Say where the outside tap is, and whether it runs at any pressure.
- Note where the electricity meter and consumer unit sit relative to the wall.
- Tell us if there is a low wall or a step at the base of the elevation that gets slippery.
- Point out any window that does not seal properly, so it gets sheeted rather than sprayed near.
- Close and latch every window on the elevations being worked, including any small top lights.
- Tell us if a fence panel is loose, because sheeting gets pegged to something solid.
- Say whether the side passage is wide enough for a wheeled kit trolley.
- Say if a conservatory or lean-to abuts the elevation, so glazing can be sheeted.
What the surface will and will not take
- Render that has lost its water repellency absorbs surface water instead of shedding it, which extends every damp spell.
- Coloured through-render fades gradually, so what looks like dirt on an older wall is sometimes age in the finish.
- Masonry paint over render adds a film that traps moisture if the substrate was damp when it was applied.
- A weaker mix and a longer wait suits paint better than anything stronger and faster.
- Rubble stone walls have deep joints that hold moisture and feed growth from within the joint.
- Treatment on stone is applied in stages so it soaks into the joints rather than running off the faces.
The method we would use in Sheviock
- 1.The treatment is mixed to the surface, not to a fixed recipe, and a delicate finish gets a weaker mix and a longer wait.
- 2.Downpipe backs and the strip of wall behind them are done by hand, because a sprayed pattern always misses them.
- 3.Where a wall has been previously jet washed, the damaged band is treated at a reduced strength.
- 4.The strength of mix is stepped up only after a weaker one has been given its full dwell and judged.
- 5.Reach is taken from the ground with a telescopic lance wherever the elevation allows, which keeps ladders off soft render.
- 6.The lance is held at a distance and an angle that lets the fan open fully instead of hitting the wall as a jet.
- 7.The job is worked one elevation at a time from end to end so that nothing dries out mid-wall.
- 8.A pass is made along the wall head where it meets the soffit, since that band greens first and is seen least.
- 9.Fixings for hanging baskets and washing lines are unloaded before the elevation is worked, then put back.
- 10.The van is parked so hoses do not cross a footpath, and matting goes down where they have to.
Asked most often in PL11
- Do you clean soffits and fascias?
- They are in the same spray path, so they are done as part of the wall visit.
- How do you price the work?
- By elevation area and access, put in writing before anything starts.
- What if I only want the front done?
- That is the most common request on this kind of job.
- Can you work in cool damp weather?
- Yes. Wall softwash is fine in cool damp conditions. Heavy rain during application is the only real blocker.
- Is a second visit ever needed?
- For heavy lichen, a lighter second application later beats increasing pressure on the first.
- Do you work weekends?
- We work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.
- 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.
- Can you clean a wall before painting?
- Yes, and it should be done first. Paint over live growth fails from underneath.
Order of work, top down
The number of elevations completed in one visit depends on their area, access, condition and weather.
If a decorator is due, the wall clean goes in first and is given time to dry fully.
Anything that involves opening a gutter is done before the ground beneath it is cleaned.
Where the property is being sold, walls are the single most visible thing to do first.
Close to Sheviock
PL11 context
- Torpoint sits about 7.3 miles from Sheviock on our round, so visits are often shared.
- Recorded character: village. A374 church-tower village.
- Nearest full coverage hub: Torpoint (PL11), Cornwall Council.
- Postcode district: PL11. County: Cornwall. Approx 9.7 miles from the PL3 base.
- Typical wall finish here is painted render and stone, which sets the cleaning method.
Useful pages alongside this one
Sheviock wall softwash, in short
Written price first, method matched to the surface, then the work. In that order. A wall is part of a system that includes the roof above it and the ground below it. The wall dictates the method. Everything else on this page follows from that one rule.
Talk it through on the phone
Five minutes on the phone usually settles what a form cannot.