Exterior cleaning in Canford Heath
Roofs, drives, patios and walls cleaned at low pressure across Canford Heath, BH17, with care where gardens back onto the heath.
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 Heath is mostly moss off concrete tile roofs, green off block paving and patios, and algae off the render, tile hanging and plastic fascias of 1970s and 1980s houses. We clean at the lowest pressure that works, treat so it grows back slower, and price it in writing first.
Canford Heath houses need cleaning for a handful of reasons. The north slope of the roof has gone thick with moss and it is dropping into the gutters. The block paving on the drive has turned green and slippery in the shade. The white fascias and soffits have gone grey and streaked. Or a house is going on the market and the front needs to look cared for in the photographs.
Thomas comes out, looks at each surface, tells you which ones really need cleaning and which just need a treatment, and gives you a free written itemised quote.
What gets cleaned
Roofs, paving, fascias and walls
Concrete tile roofs. Most roofs on Canford Heath are concrete interlocking tiles, and their rough surface holds moss well. It is scraped off by hand, from the ridge down, and brushed out of the laps and the gaps at the tile edges, then the roof is treated with a biocide so the spores left behind die off and regrowth is slower. We do not pressure wash roofs, because it strips the tile surface and drives water up under the laps.
Gutters after a roof clean. Everything that comes off a roof ends up in the gutters, the valleys and the outlets, so they are cleared by hand as part of the job and the downpipes checked. If a gutter is sagging or a joint is leaking, we tell you, and gutter cleaning in Canford Heath covers the routine side.
Block paving and drives. A rotary surface cleaner at a controlled pressure lifts the dirt without blasting out the joints. The drive is then re-sanded with kiln dried sand. Oil marks are treated separately and fade instead of vanishing. Sealing is optional, and we say if it is not worth it on yours.
Patios. Concrete slabs, porcelain and sandstone each get a different approach. Sandstone is cleaned softly and treated so the green and black spots fade, because hard washing opens up its surface and it greens faster afterwards.
Render, tile hanging and cladding. Where a house has painted render, hanging tiles or boarding on the upper floor, we soft wash: a biocide applied at low pressure, left to work, then rinsed gently. Lichen is slow and can take weeks to fade fully after treatment.
Fascias, soffits and uPVC. Plastic fascias, soffits, gutters and window frames are washed with a soft brush and a mild cleaner. Solvent cleaners and hard scrubbing leave the plastic dull.
What we protect. Plants are wetted or covered, windows and doors are kept shut, and neighbouring cars on a shared drive or court are warned before a roof is scraped.
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.
Exterior cleaning in Canford Heath needs no planning permission. Only biocides approved under the biocides regime the HSE administers are used, at the rate the label allows. Surface water drains carry rain, not sewage, so anything that goes into them reaches a stream untreated, and we follow the government's pollution prevention guidance to keep wash water and treatment out of them.
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 bungalow roof reached from the ground, a two storey house with a conservatory under the eaves, and a drive in a shared parking court are three different jobs before any water is used. 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. Line up the answers first and the prices start to make sense.
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. If a path or drive has gone slippery with algae and someone elderly uses it, brush off what you can with a stiff broom and tell us, because that part gets done 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 here
When your garden backs onto the heath
Canford Heath still has a large area of open heathland at its heart, protected as a nature reserve, and a good number of homes on the estate back straight onto it or onto the woodland at its edge. For exterior cleaning, that raises the run off and the speed of regrowth.
First, what runs off your roof and drive must not end up on the heath. The heathland plants and the wildlife there are sensitive to biocides and to dirty water. So on a house that backs onto the reserve we choose treatments with care, apply them by hand or at low pressure only where they are needed, keep the runoff on your side of the fence, and never tip wash water over it. Second, the trees along the heath edge drop needles and leaves onto roofs and into gutters, and shade the garden, so moss and green algae come back sooner than on an open street. On those houses we suggest a gutter clear each autumn and a light treatment of the roof and paving every year or two, rather than waiting for a full clean.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We clean homes across Canford Heath and the rest of BH17, from Gravel Hill to Mannings Heath and from Adastral Square to Culliford Crescent, from our base in Boscombe, about six miles away.
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 Heath, 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 Heath?
Most repairs in Canford Heath 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 Heath |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Canford Heath. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Canford Heath, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Nothing in Canford Heath is on the statutory list, so listed building consent does not come into it. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Canford Heath. |
Questions
Questions about exterior cleaning in Canford Heath
Do you pressure wash roofs?
We never pressure wash a roof. Moss is scraped off by hand and the roof is treated. A pressure washer damages the surface of concrete tiles and can force water under them.
How long does a roof clean last?
The treatment slows regrowth for a good while. A roof shaded by trees greens up sooner than one in open sun, and a light re-treatment keeps it clean.
My garden backs onto the heath. Is the treatment safe to use?
We choose treatments for that, apply them only where needed at low pressure, and keep the runoff and wash water on your side of the fence.
Will my block paving need re-sanding after cleaning?
Yes, some sand comes out of the joints. We brush kiln dried sand back in as part of the job.
Nearby, and next door
Exterior cleaning near Canford Heath
Nearby places we also cover for exterior cleaning, with straight-line distances from Canford Heath, and the other trades we offer in Canford Heath itself.
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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 Heath Exterior cleaning, all areas Every area we cover
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Get a price to clean your Canford Heath home
Thomas looks at each surface, tells you what it needs and puts an itemised price in writing. The visit and the quote are free.