PL13 - Cornwall - 15.4 miles from PL3
Wall cleaning for village property in Widegates
Wall cleaning in Widegates is mostly a question of what the wall is made of. Crossroads village on the B3253 to Looe. The nearest hub we cover in depth is Looe, and the building stock here follows the same pattern.
Quote for a Widegates property
Monday to Saturday, 8am – 7pm
What helps before we arrive
- Let us know if a neighbour parks under the wall on certain days.
- Say if there is a wasp or bird nest under the eaves, and we will plan around it.
- Note where hoses can be run without crossing a doorway.
- Note where the electricity meter and consumer unit sit relative to the wall.
- Tell us where the drains run if the garden has a soakaway rather than a mains connection.
- Trim back anything that has grown tight against the wall, or ask us to work around it.
- Mention any glazing you already know is cracked before work starts.
- Tell us if there is a low wall or a step at the base of the elevation that gets slippery.
Wall build-ups common in PL13
- Render cleans up well at low pressure and badly at high pressure, because pressure removes the finish along with the growth.
- 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.
- Painted plinths take splash and are worked as a separate band from the main face.
- Stone elevations vary enormously in hardness, and the pointing is usually the weakest part.
- Treatment on stone is applied in stages so it soaks into the joints rather than running off the faces.
Diagnosis before treatment
- 01Colour matters: green suggests algae, black suggests fungal spotting, grey-white crust suggests lichen.
- 02A damp meter reading inside a stained corner separates a cleaning job from a building problem.
- 03A short section of hose test shows whether run-off drains away or ponds at the base.
- 04The mortar is tested with a key at a discreet point, since soft mortar sets the whole method.
- 05Where the pattern is a band at the bottom, splash from the ground is doing it.
- 06Where the wall carries a previous coating over render, its edges are inspected for lifting.
- 07The age of the finish is estimated before a strength of mix is chosen.
- 08Anything that cannot be explained by water is treated with more caution, not less.
Damp, airflow and what feeds growth
- Old sealant around window heads cracks and lets a thin trickle run down the face below.
- A downpipe discharging onto a hard surface next to the wall sends the water straight back at the brickwork.
- Roof valleys concentrate run-off, so the wall under a valley outlet is loaded more heavily than anywhere else.
- Where a gutter joint weeps rather than pours, the stain is thin, vertical and very persistent.
- A wall shaded by its own porch roof for half the day dries at half the rate of the face beside it.
- North and east elevations dry last and green first, in that order, on nearly every property.
- Painted walls chalk with age, and chalked paint is a rougher surface than new paint.
- A split downpipe puts a single wet stripe down an elevation, and that stripe goes green months before anything either side of it.
- A wall next to a busy road picks up a film of traffic grime that holds moisture on the surface.
Sequencing the outside of the house
Gutters are cleared between the roof and the walls, so the first heavy rain does not restain a finished elevation.
If windows were cleaned recently, tell us, and they get sheeted rather than redone.
A wall treated in autumn goes into winter clean, which is when it matters most.
Glass is done last on any multi-service visit, since it picks up whatever the earlier stages put in the air.
How a softwash visit runs
- 1.Anything that has to be moved - bins, planters, a bike - goes back exactly where it was found.
- 2.Where a lean-to gutter runs at wall height, it is cleared first so it does not overflow mid-visit.
- 3.Where a porch roof sits mid-elevation, it is sheeted and its own tiles cleared before the wall above is touched.
- 4.Chimney stacks are treated from a position that keeps the operator off the roof covering entirely.
- 5.Fixings for hanging baskets and washing lines are unloaded before the elevation is worked, then put back.
- 6.External drains below the work are covered with a grate mat and cleared before we leave.
- 7.Paving, steps and paths below the elevation are rinsed clear at the end of the visit.
- 8.Every hose junction is checked before pressure goes on, because a burst at a coupling floods a border.
- 9.Where a property has solar panels on a wall-facing slope, the array is sheeted before treatment starts below.
- 10.The strength of mix is stepped up only after a weaker one has been given its full dwell and judged.
Before you get in touch
- Do you need a parking space?
- Somewhere within hose reach of the elevation is enough.
- Is timber cladding treated the same way?
- No. Cladding takes a weaker mix, and pressure is avoided entirely because it raises the grain.
- Can you clean render on an insulated system?
- Yes, with extra care around bead edges where water should not be driven in.
- 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 take the waste away?
- There is very little on a wall job. What comes off the surface is rinsed to a drain that can take it.
- How do you price the work?
- By elevation area and access, put in writing before anything starts.
- Do you jet wash walls?
- Not on render, pebbledash or paint. Pressure takes the finish off with the growth and brings the problem back sooner.
- Does the treatment stain paving?
- No, and paving below the elevation is rinsed at the end anyway.
Where Widegates sits on our round
- Access is usually via A387.
- Postcode district: PL13. County: Cornwall. Approx 15.4 miles from the PL3 base.
- Nearest full coverage hub: Looe (PL13), Cornwall Council.
- PL13 covers 3 town hubs and 14 villages or districts in our radius.
- Looe sits about 4 miles from Widegates on our round, so visits are often shared.
Also covered near PL13
Painting soon?
Walls should be treated and fully dry before a brush goes near them. Tell us the decorating date and we will work back from it.
The short version
Shade is not a fault in a house, but it is the reason one elevation always looks worse. The wall is nearly always sound. What has changed is what is living on it. Written price first, method matched to the surface, then the work. In that order.