Exterior cleaning in Iwerne Minster

Roof cleaning. Plain clay tile and concrete interlocking both grow moss on the sheltered pitch, and in this valley it is the north and east slopes that never properly dry out. We take the bulk off dry, scraping it out of the laps and off the ridge by hand rather than driving it down the roof, then clear what falls into the gutter and the valley. A biocide goes on afterwards and does the slow work on the algae and lichen a scrape leaves behind. Pressure washing a roof forces water up under the laps and takes the face off a soft old tile, so we do not use it up there.

Nearly four in ten houses in the village predate 1919, and old flint, banded brickwork and stone bedded in lime get brushed and rinsed at very little pressure and nothing more. A lance held on a lime joint will empty it in seconds. The post-war houses at the edge of the village are mostly render or pebbledash and green over on the sheltered elevation first, and painted masonry, dry dash and modern silicone render all come up with a low pressure soft wash and a treatment.

Drives and paths are block paving, concrete flags, gravel edges and stone terraces with black spot lichen burnt into them. Block paving is jet washed properly and then re-sanded, because taking the joint sand out and leaving it out is how blocks start to rock. Stone and porcelain want a wider nozzle and less of it. The limes and beeches along the lanes fill gutters here every autumn, and a blocked outlet shows as a stain down a wall long before anyone looks up, so we check the downpipe discharges somewhere rather than into the ground beside the wall.

Before any water runs. Planting is watered and sheeted, the gully by the door and any open drain is covered, and vents, lights and letterboxes are protected. A biocide is a regulated product: we use it at the dilution on the label, on surfaces it is approved for, and we keep it out of drains, which is what the biocides regime the HSE administers and pollution prevention guidance both come down to. We would talk you out of sealing an old stone patio with damp sitting under it, and out of booking a clean every spring, because with a biocide behind it a proper wash holds here for two or three years.

No rate per square metre: the same square metre can be twenty minutes or two, depending what is growing on it. A single storey cottage we can reach off a pole, a two storey house with the lane hard against the front, and a tall Victorian villa with a conservatory in the way are three different days. 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 Iwerne Minster and the villages along the Iwerne valley, out through Stourpaine and Blandford Forum and across the DT11 postcodes. 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.