Cleaning tired walls in Stoke Fleming
Church-top village above Blackpool Sands.
Stoke Fleming property owners usually call about colour rather than dirt. Growth flattens the tone of a painted render and stone finish long before anyone would call the wall unclean.
Working out what is wrong on a Stoke Fleming wall
- 01The age of the finish is estimated before a strength of mix is chosen.
- 02Where paint is peeling in flakes rather than powdering, adhesion has already gone.
- 03Cracks are traced to their ends, because a crack that runs to an opening behaves differently from one that stops.
- 04Where a wall meets a roof abutment, the flashing is looked at first.
- 05A wall that is warmer than its neighbours on a cold morning is likely holding moisture.
- 06Efflorescence is distinguished from lichen before anything is applied, since one is salt and one is alive.
- 07Where the pattern is a band at the bottom, splash from the ground is doing it.
- 08Old repair patches are identified early, because they take treatment differently from the surrounding finish.
Material first, method second
- Patched render takes treatment differently from the original, which is why patches are identified before work starts.
- A rendered wall under a failed drip detail restains within a season however well it was cleaned.
- Colour on a painted wall usually returns once the film on top is removed.
- A weaker mix and a longer wait suits paint better than anything stronger and faster.
- Method is set by the softest thing on the wall, not the hardest.
- Copings on stone boundary walls take the worst of the weather and the worst of the growth.
Why this keeps happening on TQ6 elevations
- Growth returns fastest where the underlying cause was never dealt with, which is usually water going somewhere it should not.
- Painted walls chalk with age, and chalked paint is a rougher surface than new paint.
- A drying rack or store built against a wall keeps that panel of it permanently shaded.
- North-east corners hold frost longest and thaw slowest, which extends the damp window every morning.
- An untreated wall carries a spore load already, so regrowth after a rinse is faster than first growth ever was.
- A single missing tile above an elevation can put water onto the same square metre for years.
- A wall that faces a large expanse of glass on another building gets less sun than its aspect suggests.
- Roof valleys concentrate run-off, so the wall under a valley outlet is loaded more heavily than anywhere else.
- Bird activity along a gutter line concentrates nutrients on the wall directly below it.
On site in Stoke Fleming
- 1.Photographs are taken of anything found in poor condition, so it can be shown rather than described.
- 2.Corners are worked from both directions so the overlap sits in the angle and not on the open face.
- 3.Fixings for hanging baskets and washing lines are unloaded before the elevation is worked, then put back.
- 4.A wall carrying a house number, plaque or bell push has those items worked around by hand.
- 5.Render beads and stop ends are inspected as work reaches them, because a lifted bead traps water behind the finish.
- 6.Sheeting comes off from the top down so nothing collected on it lands on cleaned work.
- 7.Kit is set down on a groundsheet rather than on planting or paving joints.
- 8.Rainwater goods are checked while the elevation is being worked, since a blocked hopper explains most single-strip staining.
- 9.Where a pond or water feature sits below an elevation, it is covered and the run-off diverted well away from it.
- 10.Curtains and blinds behind a treated elevation are best left closed, and we say so before starting rather than afterwards.
Local detail that changes the job
- Nearest full coverage hub: Modbury (PL21), South Hams District Council.
- Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
- Recorded character: coastal hamlet. Church-top village above Blackpool Sands.
- Modbury sits about 7.8 miles from Stoke Fleming on our round, so visits are often shared.
- TQ6 covers 0 town hubs and 2 villages or districts in our radius.
Preparing a coastal hamlet property
- Tell us if there is a low wall or a step at the base of the elevation that gets slippery.
- Mention any planned decorating so the drying window can be built into the date.
- Tell us if there is a septic tank and where its outlet sits.
- Tell us where the drains run if the garden has a soakaway rather than a mains connection.
- Point out ground-floor windows that are painted shut, as they need different masking.
- Let us know if a neighbour parks under the wall on certain days.
- Trim back anything that has grown tight against the wall, or ask us to work around it.
- Say where the outside tap is, and whether it runs at any pressure.
What to book before and after the walls
Where scaffolding is going up for other work, the wall clean is easier and safer while it is standing.
Where gutters need repair rather than clearing, that goes ahead of any cleaning at all.
A wall treated in autumn goes into winter clean, which is when it matters most.
If a decorator is due, the wall clean goes in first and is given time to dry fully.
Asked most often in TQ6
- Can you clean a wall covered in ivy?
- The ivy needs removing first. Once it is off, the shaded face behind it is treated as normal.
- Can you clean render on an insulated system?
- Yes, with extra care around bead edges where water should not be driven in.
- Can you get behind downpipes?
- Yes, by hand. It is the part a sprayed pattern always misses.
- Do you work on bungalows differently?
- Only in that everything is reachable from the ground, which makes the visit shorter.
- Do you treat garden and boundary walls on their own?
- Yes, where the method matches and access allows.
- Do you need my electricity?
- No. Kit runs off the van.
- Is a lower price ever a bad sign?
- Not automatically, but ask what method is being used. Speed on a delicate finish usually means pressure.
- What about the windows afterwards?
- Frames and glass in the spray path are wiped as the masking comes off.
Close to Stoke Fleming
Stoke Fleming wall softwash, in short
A first clean is the heavy one. What follows is maintenance, and maintenance is quicker every time. Wall growth is a moisture problem wearing a dirt costume. Treat the growth, sort the water, and the interval stretches out. If the staining sits in the substrate rather than on it, we will say so before taking the work on.
Split it over two visits
Front now, back later is a perfectly normal way to plan it.
Quote for a Stoke Fleming property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm