Exterior cleaning in Crossways
Block paving washed and re-sanded, roof moss taken off dry, gutters cleared and render soft washed across Crossways.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Crossways is a modern village, so most of this is straightforward work on concrete tile roofs, plastic gutters and block paved drives. Clean the gutters, take the roof moss off dry and treat it, soft wash the walls, then wash and re-sand the paving. No heritage rules to work around here.
The calls come in three shapes. A drive that has gone green, grown weed through every joint and turned slippery where the cars sit. A roof slope covered in moss, with the gutter underneath it full of what has already dropped off. And render or brickwork that has darkened on the shaded side of the house, usually the side facing the trees.
You do not have to do the lot at once. We look at each surface, tell you which one is actually causing damage and which is only looking untidy, and price them separately so you can choose. The site visit is free, the quote is written and itemised, and if the drive can wait another two years we will say so.
The work
Modern estate houses, and what goes wrong on them
Block paving and tarmac drives. The biggest single job in this village. Most of the drives here are block paving, and once the kiln dried sand has washed out of the joints, weed gets in, the surface holds water and lichen black spot spreads across it. The work is a controlled wash with a rotary head so the finish is even rather than striped, the weed out of the joints, then a re-sand to lock the blocks back together. Skipping the re-sand is why a freshly cleaned drive starts to move under a car. On tarmac it is a lower pressure job again, because a lance will pick the loose stone straight out.
Crossways is a modern village, most of it built from the 1970s onward and nearly a third of it since 1983, so it is concrete interlocking tile on nearly every roof, which holds moss well and dislikes pressure. It comes off dry with a scrape and a brush, worked down the slope so nothing is forced up under the laps, with the ridge and the valleys cleared out, and then a biocide so the spores die off and regrowth is slow. Jet washing a concrete tile roughens the surface and the moss comes back faster than before, which is why we do not do it.
Plastic rainwater goods on most houses, and the fault is almost always at the outlet where the downpipe starts rather than along the run. Once that packs with moss and needles the water goes over the front edge and stains the wall underneath. We clear the runs, valleys and outlets, flush them through, check the fall and take the debris away. Fascias and soffits get washed down while the kit is out, because that is where the black streaking sits.
Brick with render panels on most of the estate, painted masonry and pebbledash on the older houses, and all of it soft wash work. Conservatory roofs, glass and frames go the same way, and a conservatory roof is worth doing at the same time as the gutters because the debris off it lands in them. Slabs are cleared of green, the path by a door done first because that is where somebody slips, and fence panels and decking washed down. Planting is wetted and sheeted before we start, and every drain and gully the water will run to is covered and checked.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
The written quote breaks it down surface by surface, with protection, access and disposal priced separately so you can compare it properly. Thomas Hannen looks at it and prices it, and neither the visit nor the quote costs anything. What comes out leaves with us. Nothing here needs permission. There is no conservation area over Crossways and nothing listed in the village at all, which is rare on this patch, so cleaning is maintenance and even the coatings and colours afterwards are your own decision, which Planning Portal guidance on external walls sets out. Dorset Council is the authority, and we still check the address before quoting.
Cost
What decides the price of a clean
We do not quote by the metre. The growth decides how long a surface takes, not the measurement. A detached house with a drive you can park a van on, a bungalow with the garden gate as the only way round the back, and a mid terrace with the van out on the road are three different jobs, and work at height rules settle whether a pole or a tower is right. Block paving, tarmac and a concrete tile roof each take their own pressure. When you compare, ask the method per surface, whether a second visit is in the price, and where the residue ends up.
If there is a date
A viewing, a visit or a deadline
Ring rather than use the form. We are around forty minutes away, so tell us the date when you ring rather than after you have booked. If the deadline is a sale, the drive and the front elevation are usually where the money shows, and we will say plainly if there is not time to do it all properly. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
No heritage rules here, but the drainage rule still applies
Crossways is one of the few places on this patch with no conservation area over it and nothing listed in the village. That is genuinely useful to know, because the question we get asked everywhere else is whether the owner is allowed to change how the outside looks once it has been cleaned.
Here the answer is simply yes. Paint the render, recolour it, seal the drive or change the surface, and the appearance of it is your decision rather than something to apply for. It also means nobody has to work around soft lime mortar or a stone slate roof, so the methods are the ordinary modern ones.
The rule that does still apply is about water, not looks. If you replace a front drive with a surface that water cannot get through, and it covers more than five square metres, that needs permission unless the water is drained to a border, a lawn or a soakaway on your own ground, which is what Planning Portal guidance on paving your front garden explains.
Block paving laid to drain through its joints already satisfies it, and that is one more reason why washing, weeding and re-sanding an existing drive is usually the better answer than taking it up. It is also why we are careful about sealers: a heavy coating on a drive that was designed to let water through changes how it behaves, so we talk about it before it goes anywhere near the surface.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Crossways and the DT2 postcodes across to Moreton, Warmwell, Owermoigne, Wool and Winfrith Newburgh. 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.
Questions
Crossways questions we get asked
Nothing in Crossways is listed. Does that simplify anything?
It does, and it is rare round here. Crossways has no conservation area and no listed entries at all, so the covering, the finish and whether a drive gets sealed afterwards are your decisions and nobody at Dorset Council has to agree to them. In most of the villages we work in, one designation or the other applies, and it changes what we are able to suggest.
Why does sand wash out of block paving?
Because joint sand is loose material sitting in a slot, and any lance held close enough to shift growth will lift it as well. The ground at Crossways drains freely, so the joints empty fast once they are wet and the sand travels with the water. That is not damage, but the joints have to be refilled with kiln dried sand afterwards or the blocks begin to rock under a car.
Does the westerly wind decide which wall gets dirty?
Largely, yes. The exposed face at Crossways looks west and south west, so that elevation meets the weather head on and what sits on it is dirt driven into the finish rather than anything living. Turn the corner to the sheltered side and you get the opposite, a soft green film that never dries out. One wants rinsing and one wants a treatment left on it, so they are priced apart.
How much mess does a full house wash make?
Less than you expect off the roof and more than you expect out of the gutters. Moss comes away in a mat and lands wherever gravity puts it, which at Crossways usually means borders running the whole way round, since most houses are detached or single storey with garden on four sides. We sheet the beds, rake the moss up, bag it and carry it away with us.
How quickly can you get out this far?
Crossways is about twenty miles from base, the far end of what we cover, so we try to line it up with other work out that way rather than making a single trip of it. That has no bearing on the visit, which is free, or on the written itemised quote that follows. Thomas Hannen drives out and prices it himself instead of quoting off a sheet.
Nearby, and next door
Exterior cleaning near Crossways
Exterior cleaning nearby
Our other trades in Crossways
Everything we do in Wareham Exterior cleaning, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Get a written price for your Crossways clean
Send the postcode and tell us what needs doing. We come out, look at the drive, the roof and the gutters, and put the price in writing.