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.

On homes near the cliff top in Highcliffe, within a few hundred metres of the sea, 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.

Highcliffe bungalows have long gutter runs that silt up with washed off moss, so gutter clearing goes naturally with a roof clean. 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.

One square metre of wall might take five minutes or most of an hour, depending on what is growing on it and how you reach it, so the job is priced, not the area.

What is growing. Green algae on a north facing wall comes off with one soft wash. Black lichen and moss on a roof need a biocide that is left to work, sometimes with a second treatment. HSE's biocide rules govern what can be used and how.

Which surfaces. Render, a roof, fascias, paths and a patio are each a different method, and the quote lists them separately so you can drop one.

Reach. A single storey bungalow is ground work with an extended lance. A three storey block or a roof slope needs a platform, chosen under the work at height rules.

Where it drains. On a shared car park or a path that runs to a surface drain, run-off has to be contained, which takes more time.

Salt and exposure. On the seaward side, windows and render collect a salt film that needs a rinse as well as the treatment.

Before you compare, ask what method each surface will get, whether a biocide is part of it or just a rinse, whether a return visit is included, and where the dirty water ends up.

Homes and blocks right across Highcliffe, Walkford, Christchurch and the rest of BH23 can be cleaned by us, and the council for the area is BCP. From our base in Boscombe the run is 5.7 miles.

Thomas Hannen owns the company, and he walks round the outside and prices it himself, surface by surface, so you know who to ring if anything is wrong. On Checkatrade a verified customer left us a 10 out of 10. Neither the site visit nor the written quote, itemised by surface, costs anything. The business is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Highcliffe, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Highcliffe 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.