Exterior cleaning in Highcliffe

Roofs from the great post-war build. Most of Highcliffe went up between the late forties and the early eighties, with the busiest years around the turn of the sixties, and a lot of it is bungalows. That means big areas of low pitched concrete interlocking tile sitting close to the ground where you can see every bit of it. Concrete tile of that age is porous and moss roots into the face, so a roof clean means scraping the bulk off, clearing what has washed into the laps and the valley, and then a biocide treatment that kills the spores rather than just moving them. A pressure washer on those tiles strips the surface, exposes the aggregate and hands the next generation of moss a better hold. It will also blow out a mortar bedded ridge in seconds.

Two hundred metres from the water, salt sits on a wall and holds moisture on it long after the rain has stopped, and the elevation facing the sea always looks worse than the one behind it. Painted render, pebbledash and bare masonry all get the same approach: low pressure, an approved product used at the strength on the label, and time for it to work. Where paint is already flaking we will say so before we start, because cleaning it will lift more of it and that is a decorating job.

Bungalows have long gutter runs and short downpipes, and both silt up with washed off moss. Clearing means the debris comes out rather than being flushed into the outlet, then water goes down to prove the run works. Small flat roofs over a porch, a garage or a bay collect the same material and hold it, so they get brushed off and the outlet cleared while we are up there.

Drives, patios and communal parking here are block paving, concrete slabs and tarmac, plus the shared parking areas and bin stores at the blocks of flats, which grow a black film that becomes genuinely slippery in winter. Nearly four in ten dwellings in Highcliffe are flats, and the outside of a flat belongs to the freeholder and is managed out of the service charge, so it is worth knowing who can instruct the work before anyone quotes it. Block paving gets a re-sand once it is dry, because open joints let the blocks move and the weeds straight back in.

Fascias, soffits and the bits nobody looks at. The white plastic goes green on the shaded side and comes up with a soft wash and a brush in the same visit as the gutter. It is the cheapest thing on this page to include and the one that makes the most difference from the pavement.

No rate per square metre: the same square metre can be twenty minutes or two, depending what is growing on it. A single storey bungalow, a three storey block of flats and a seafront gable in an onshore wind are three different jobs before anyone opens a valve. Ground level off a lance is one thing, a roof slope another, and work at height rules decide which.

Comparing quotes. Ask what method each surface gets, whether treatment is included or only a rinse, whether a second visit is part of it, and where the run off goes.

We cover Highcliffe, Walkford, Christchurch and the rest of BH23, houses and blocks alike. The visit is a survey of the whole outside and the written quote breaks the price down surface by surface. 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.