Exterior cleaning in Canford Cliffs
Render, roofs, balcony glass, resin drives and patios across BH13, each cleaned at the pressure it can take, for houses and apartment blocks.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Exterior cleaning in Canford Cliffs is mostly render, glass and paving, and most of it is soft wash work: low pressure with a biocide, because pale render and coloured paving mark easily under a lance. Under the pines the green comes back sooner, so the treatment matters more than the wash.
A clean is worth arranging in Canford Cliffs in cases like these. A white rendered house where the side facing the trees has gone green and the black streaks under the sills will not rinse off. An apartment block where the balconies, the glass and the communal drive all look tired and the managing agent wants one price for the lot. And a house going on the market where it needs to look as sharp as the ones either side of it.
We come and look at every surface before we suggest a method. You get a written price with each surface on its own line, a plain note of anything that belongs to a freeholder rather than to you, and an honest view on how long the clean is likely to last under the trees you have.
The work
Render, glass and resin drives between the chines
Render comes first on these houses. Most houses in Canford Cliffs are rendered, some painted in masonry paint and a lot of the newer ones in a thin coat through coloured finish. Green algae settles on the shaded side and black spot and lichen take hold under the sills and around the downpipes.
It is a soft wash: a wide nozzle, low pressure, a biocide left to work on the growth in the surface, then a rinse. A coloured render wants a cleaner made for it, because the wrong product bleaches the finish, and a pressure wash on painted render lifts the paint along with the dirt. If the paint is already flaking we will tell you the clean will show it up, and that the wall may want re-rendering or repainting instead. Where there is older pebbledash, the lance stays well back so the stones stay on.
Roofs. The older detached houses in Canford Cliffs mostly carry clay or concrete tile, and plenty of the newer blocks have flat roofs or shallow pitches. Pine needles drop into valleys, behind chimneys and along the ridge, hold water and grow moss, and moss in a tile lap lifts the tile above it. We scrape the moss out of the laps by hand, clear the valleys and treat the slope so the spores left behind die off instead of regrowing. Nobody should jet wash a tiled roof: the force strips the surface off the tile and drives water under it. Our roof cleaning page covers that job on its own.
Balconies and glass. The apartment blocks in Canford Cliffs are all glass balustrades, railings and balcony floors. Sea air leaves a salt film on glass that will not wipe off, so glass and frames get purified water and a soft brush. Balcony floors are low pressure with the run off caught, because whatever comes off one balcony lands on the next one down.
Drives, paths and patios. Resin bound gravel, block paving and porcelain are the usual surfaces in Canford Cliffs. Resin bound takes a gentle clean and a biocide, never a close lance, which loosens the stone. Block paving takes more pressure and then a re-sand, because the wash takes the jointing sand out with the weeds. Porcelain cleans well but the joints hold black spot. We will tell you honestly whether a seal is worth having on a patio or will just lock damp in under it.
Gutters first. Needles clog gutters and outlets faster than leaves. Clear the gutters in Canford Cliffs before the walls are washed, or the next downpour streaks the fresh render straight away.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: the method for each surface, protection, access, and where the water and residue go on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Cleaning is upkeep and needs no consent. Parts of Canford Cliffs sit in two conservation areas, Canford Cliffs Village around Haven Road and Branksome Park and Chine Gardens towards the chines, so painting a wall a new colour or putting a coating on render goes to BCP Council first. The council publishes the boundaries.
Cost
What decides the price of a clean
No rate per square metre, because the same square metre can be twenty minutes or two, depending what is growing on it.
Getting to it. A detached house behind a gravel drive, a four storey block with balconies stacked over the car park, and a house on the slope down to a chine each need a different set up. Ground level off a lance is one thing, a second storey or a roof slope is another. Reach poles do a lot of it, some of it wants a tower, and the work at height rules decide which.
The surface decides the method. Render, painted masonry, old brick, block paving and a tiled roof all want different pressure, and some want no pressure at all. Getting that wrong takes the surface off with the dirt, which is the expensive kind of clean.
How bad it has actually got. A light film comes off quickly. Years of organic growth needs treating, and often needs a second visit rather than more pressure.
Comparing quotes? Ask what method is being used on each surface, whether any treatment is included or just a rinse, whether a second visit is part of it, and where the run off is going. A clean priced lower may simply leave the treatment out.
If there is a date
A viewing, a visit or a deadline
Ring rather than use the form. This is not emergency work, but it is often work with a date on it: a property going on the market, a letting inspection, a visit, or scaffolding coming down.
Tell us the date when you ring and we will tell you honestly whether it can be done properly by then, rather than book it and rush it. A shaded drive or a set of steps under the pines turns slippery after rain, and that part can be treated first. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
Under the pines the green comes back sooner
Canford Cliffs and Branksome Park are known for tall pines, and a big pine works on a house through shade, drip and needle fall. It shades the walls and the roof on one side so they never properly dry. It drips onto the roof and the drive long after the rain stops.
And it drops needles all year into gutters, valleys and the joints in the paving. The result is algae and black spot that come back on the shaded side in a season or two, while the sunny side of the same house stays clean for years.
That changes what you should buy. A rinse on its own is wasted under a pine, because the growth is in the surface and a wash only takes the top off it. A proper biocide treatment, with the gutters cleared on the same visit, lasts far longer, and a light treatment every year or two costs less than a heavy clean every few. Letting more light in is what really slows it down, but please ask the council before anyone touches a tree. In a conservation area you have to give BCP Council six weeks' notice before most work to a tree, and many pines in Canford Cliffs carry a tree preservation order that needs consent. We do not do tree work, but we will tell you which elevation the tree is costing you.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
Canford Cliffs is 4.3 miles from our base in Boscombe. We clean houses and blocks along Haven Road, Canford Cliffs Road and Ravine Road, and across BH13, with Westbourne and Lilliput on either side. BCP Council is the local authority.
You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free. Before you book a visit in Canford Cliffs, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Canford Cliffs?
Most repairs in Canford Cliffs need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.
| Question | In Canford Cliffs |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Canford Cliffs. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Branksome Park and Chine Gardens Conservation Area and Canford Cliffs Village Conservation Area. They cover parts of Canford Cliffs, so check whether your street is inside one. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Canford Cliffs. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Canford Cliffs. |
Questions
Questions about exterior cleaning in Canford Cliffs
How often will the render need doing under the trees?
On the shaded side of a house under pines, expect the green to start showing again within a couple of years after a rinse, and noticeably later after a proper biocide treatment. The sunny side lasts much longer. We will tell you on the visit which walls are the problem, so you can treat those instead of the whole house.
Can you clean the balconies and glass on our block?
Yes, but on a block the balconies, glass and outside walls usually belong to the freeholder, so the order normally comes from the managing agent. We are happy to quote them direct, with any private terrace priced on its own line.
Is it safe to clean a resin bound drive?
Yes, gently. Resin bound gravel is cleaned at low pressure with a biocide, with the lance kept well back. Put a close jet on it and you start loosening the stones out of the resin.
Will the biocide harm the garden or the trees?
Not the way we use it. Planting is watered down and sheeted, the product goes on at the strength on the label, and the run off is kept away from the drains. Most of the work is done by the treatment over the following weeks, not by force on the day.
How long does a clean take here?
A house with a rendered front and a drive is usually a day. A block with balconies and glass takes longer, mostly because of access and working around residents. The written quote says how long we expect.
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Exterior cleaning near Canford Cliffs
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Exterior cleaning guides
Soft washing vs pressure washing: safe for a roof? How to clean a patio without damaging it Moss on a roof: does it need removing?Everything we do in Canford Cliffs Exterior cleaning, all areas Every area we cover
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Find out what a clean will really take
Free site visit across BH13. Every surface priced on its own line, and a straight answer on how long it will last under your trees.