Low-pressure wall treatment across The Hoe
The Hoe, Devon - PL1
A wall in The Hoe that has greened over is telling you where water sits. Cliff-top green above Plymouth Sound and Smeaton's Tower, so the pattern of staining tends to repeat from one property to the next.
Quote for a The Hoe property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
How the work is actually carried out
- 1.Old paint flakes are removed by hand before treatment rather than blown around by water.
- 2.Cills, frames and glass are wiped down as the masking comes off, so nothing dries as a film on the joinery.
- 3.On thin-coat systems the lance is kept moving, because holding it still in one place is how a shadow mark gets left behind.
- 4.The lance is held at a distance and an angle that lets the fan open fully instead of hitting the wall as a jet.
- 5.Anything found broken before we arrived is photographed before work starts, not after.
- 6.Weep holes above openings are left clear so the wall can drain the way it was designed to.
- 7.Boundary walls and gate piers are treated in the same visit only if they take the same method as the house.
- 8.A final walk of each finished elevation happens with the property owner where they are home, and by photograph where they are not.
- 9.Water is drawn from an outside tap where there is one, and carried on the van where there is not.
- 10.Everything is packed down before the last inspection, so the wall is judged clear of kit.
Reading the finish on a The Hoe elevation
- Bead edges and stop ends on a rendered elevation are the details worth protecting from driven water.
- Patched render takes treatment differently from the original, which is why patches are identified before work starts.
- That gets pointed out before work starts rather than discovered halfway through.
- Painted plinths take splash and are worked as a separate band from the main face.
- Slate-faced walls shed water quickly but the bedding mortar does not.
- The rinse on stone is gentle enough that nothing is driven into an open joint.
The reasons behind the staining
- Render laid over a colder substrate holds surface condensation into the morning.
- Driven rain sticks to a wall face rather than running off it, which keeps the surface wet long enough for spores to settle.
- Airflow along a terrace is different from airflow around a detached house, and the drying patterns follow.
- Where a wall sits below a bank or a raised garden, water arrives at it sideways rather than from above.
- A wall that faces a large expanse of glass on another building gets less sun than its aspect suggests.
- Lichen prefers hard, alkaline surfaces, which is why it shows on mortar and cills before it shows on render.
- Cold bridging at a lintel can keep a narrow band of render damper than everything around it.
- A tree removed years ago can leave a wall that greened in its shade and never fully recovered.
- Algae needs moisture far more than it needs dirt, so the wettest elevation greens first regardless of how clean the house is.
Practical points to sort first
- Let us know whether the gutters have been cleared in the last couple of years.
- Mention any glazing you already know is cracked before work starts.
- Say if any part of the wall has been jet washed before, and roughly when.
- Say where the outside tap is, and whether it runs at any pressure.
- Say if a conservatory or lean-to abuts the elevation, so glazing can be sheeted.
- Mention any planned decorating so the drying window can be built into the date.
- Let us know if scaffold or a tower is already up for other work.
- Say if there is a wasp or bird nest under the eaves, and we will plan around it.
How the wall is read first
- 01Photographs taken before work provide the reference for judging the result later.
- 02A fingernail drawn across the growth says more in a second than a photograph does.
- 03Previous cleaning is usually visible as a slightly different texture rather than a different colour.
- 04Nearby properties with the same finish are a useful reference for what is normal on that street.
- 05The state of the pointing is judged at the most exposed corner, not the most convenient one.
- 06A slow walk of the gutter line from the ground finds most of the causes worth fixing.
- 07A damp meter reading inside a stained corner separates a cleaning job from a building problem.
- 08Colour matters: green suggests algae, black suggests fungal spotting, grey-white crust suggests lichen.
Before you get in touch
- Is there a smell?
- There is a mild one during application that clears within a few hours.
- What if I only want the front done?
- That is the most common request on this kind of job.
- What happens if it rains on the day?
- Light rain is workable. Persistent rain moves the visit rather than compromising the treatment.
- Will it damage the pointing?
- No. That is exactly what pressure does and softwash avoids.
- Can you clean a wall with an electric meter on it?
- Yes. The box is bagged before anything is applied around it.
- 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.
- Do you cover air bricks the whole time?
- Covered while the wall around them is worked and uncovered before we go.
- Should I fix the downpipe before or after?
- Before, if it is the cause. Cleaning around a live leak puts the stain straight back.
The Hoe in plain facts
- Typical wall finish here is painted render and Portland stone, which sets the cleaning method.
- Nearest full coverage hub: Plymouth City Centre (PL1), Plymouth City Council.
- Recorded character: city district. Cliff-top green above Plymouth Sound and Smeaton's Tower.
- Access is usually via A374 and A386 spur.
- PL1 covers 3 town hubs and 2 villages or districts in our radius.
Also covered near PL1
Ask what we would leave alone
Some things are better untouched. We will tell you which parts of your wall those are.
The short version
Method, dwell, rinse, check. There is nothing else to it. Access and surface type decide the plan far more than the size of the house does. Every visit ends with the elevation judged from where people actually see it. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.