EX20 - Devon - 18.7 miles from PL3
Stowford walls: method before pressure
We work Stowford as part of the Lifton round, which keeps travel down. Wall softwash is the service most often asked about here because cob and painted render shows growth earlier than brick does.
Quote for a Stowford property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
What helps before we arrive
- Mention any cladding or timber detail that you would rather was left alone.
- Warn us about a soft lawn or an unmade drive so boards come on the van.
- Flag any recent repair or repaint, because fresh work is treated more gently.
- Say whether the property is occupied during the day, since that changes nothing technically but helps the plan.
- Point out ground-floor windows that are painted shut, as they need different masking.
- Say whether the elevation backs onto a public footpath.
- Tell us if a fence panel is loose, because sheeting gets pegged to something solid.
- Let us know if a neighbour parks under the wall on certain days.
Wall build-ups common in EX20
- Where render sits over insulation, the wall is more sensitive still and the mix is weakened accordingly.
- Render responds to dwell time better than almost any other finish, which is what makes softwash suit it.
- Painted masonry can be cleaned, though a paint film that has already lost adhesion will lift where it was going to fail anyway.
- Masonry paint over render adds a film that traps moisture if the substrate was damp when it was applied.
- A cob wall relies on staying dry inside, so any method that soaks it is the wrong method.
- Growth on cob is usually treated in light passes with long gaps rather than one wet application.
Diagnosis before treatment
- 01The ground level relative to the damp course is checked before the base of a wall is treated.
- 02Previous cleaning is usually visible as a slightly different texture rather than a different colour.
- 03Whether the growth has spread onto glass and frames tells you how long it has been established.
- 04The underside of the soffit is checked, because staining there rarely stays there.
- 05The angle of morning sun on the elevation tells you how long it stays damp.
- 06Where paint is peeling in flakes rather than powdering, adhesion has already gone.
- 07Old repair patches are identified early, because they take treatment differently from the surrounding finish.
- 08Cracks are traced to their ends, because a crack that runs to an opening behaves differently from one that stops.
Damp, airflow and what feeds growth
- A wall under a mature hedge takes both shade and constant leaf litter, which is the worst pairing there is.
- A path that slopes towards a house rather than away from it keeps the base of the wall wet after every shower.
- A patio laid up against a wall reflects splash onto it every time it rains hard.
- Growth on a painted wall often sits on top of a paint film that has already begun to chalk.
- Render that has lost its water repellency absorbs and holds surface water instead of shedding it.
- Old sealant around window heads cracks and lets a thin trickle run down the face below.
- Sheltered courtyards feel pleasant and dry slowly, which is a bad combination for a wall.
- A split downpipe puts a single wet stripe down an elevation, and that stripe goes green months before anything either side of it.
- North and east elevations dry last and green first, in that order, on nearly every property.
What to book before and after the walls
If a decorator is due, the wall clean goes in first and is given time to dry fully.
Where the property is being sold, walls are the single most visible thing to do first.
Glass is done last on any multi-service visit, since it picks up whatever the earlier stages put in the air.
Gutters are cleared between the roof and the walls, so the first heavy rain does not restain a finished elevation.
How a softwash visit runs
- 1.Overspray is controlled by working with the wind rather than across it, and by stopping when it gets up.
- 2.Anything applied is applied once and given time, rather than applied twice in a hurry to look busy.
- 3.Any window left open is closed, or that section is skipped and left for a second visit.
- 4.A wall carrying a house number, plaque or bell push has those items worked around by hand.
- 5.Vents, extractor terminals and trickle vents get taped, because water pushed into them is the one thing that turns an exterior job into an interior one.
- 6.A wall with a visible damp patch inside is treated on the dry areas only until the cause is found.
- 7.Where a wall runs straight down to a lawn, a run of sheeting is pegged along the base instead of relying on dilution alone.
- 8.Curtains and blinds behind a treated elevation are best left closed, and we say so before starting rather than afterwards.
- 9.Reach is taken from the ground with a telescopic lance wherever the elevation allows, which keeps ladders off soft render.
- 10.A hose test on the nearest outside tap happens before anything is mixed, because flow rate changes how the day is planned.
Common questions about wall softwash
- Can you get behind downpipes?
- Yes, by hand. It is the part a sprayed pattern always misses.
- Is it safe around pets?
- Keep them indoors during application and for a couple of hours after, and there is nothing to worry about.
- When does a treated wall show its final appearance?
- Some change can be visible after treatment, while remaining dead growth may continue to weather away over the following days.
- How is a quote put together?
- By elevation area, surface type and access, written down before anything starts.
- Will treatment damage a wildlife pond?
- Ponds are sheeted and run-off is diverted well away from them.
- Can you work while builders are on site?
- Better after they finish, so their dust and debris does not land on clean work.
- Do you cover air bricks the whole time?
- Covered while the wall around them is worked and uncovered before we go.
- Do you offer a maintenance visit?
- A lighter top-up treatment every couple of years is much less work than leaving it until it is heavy again.
Where Stowford sits on our round
- Typical wall finish here is cob and painted render, which sets the cleaning method.
- Lifton sits about 3.4 miles from Stowford on our round, so visits are often shared.
- Recorded character: farming hamlet. Farming hamlet between Lifton and Bridestowe.
- Access is usually via A30.
- Typical roof covering here is slate, which affects what washes down onto the walls.
Nearby villages and districts
Get the order of work right
Roof, gutters, walls, hard surfaces. Doing it in that order protects each stage.
In a sentence or two
Written scope first means nothing is discovered late. Textured finishes hold damp because of their shape, not because of neglect. Gentle and patient beats fast and forceful on any coated finish.