Exterior cleaning in Langton Matravers

Roof cleaning on stone slate is hand work. Where a Langton Matravers roof is laid in Purbeck stone slate the rules are different from a tiled one. The slates are heavy, laid in diminishing courses and often bedded in lime, so nobody walks them and nothing goes near them at pressure.

Moss packs into the joints and the laps and it comes out by hand, worked off dry, then treated. Clay tile and concrete interlocking roofs on the newer houses get the same order of work: scrape the bulk off, clear the ridge, the valley and the gutter, then a biocide. A roof clean done at pressure drives water under the laps and strips the face off the tile, which is how a cleaning job turns into a roofing one.

Purbeck limestone has an open face and lichen roots into it instead of sitting on it, so it comes up with a soft wash and patience, never force. The same goes for anything with lime mortar in the joints. Rendered and painted masonry, pebbledash and the brickwork on later houses take a low pressure wash and a treatment. Two and a half kilometres from the coast, salt keeps a wall damp between showers and the growth comes back faster, so the treatment matters more here than the wash does.

Stone flags, steps, block paving and concrete all come up differently. Steps and thresholds are the ones worth doing first, because a green film on stone is more slippery than anything else on the property. Block paving is jet washed and then re-sanded, and we would rather re-sand it properly than seal over a joint that is half empty. Old stone paving gets a wider nozzle and less pressure, because the mortar between flags is usually softer than the stone. Wind puts as much in a gutter in Langton Matravers as trees do, and a blocked outlet is the usual reason a wall has a dark stripe down it.

Before the water runs. Planting is watered and sheeted, the gully and any open drain gets covered, and vents and light fittings are protected. A biocide is a regulated product and we treat it as one: the dilution on the label, only on surfaces it is approved for, and nothing into the drains. That is the short version of the biocides regime the HSE administers and pollution prevention guidance. We would talk you out of sealing stone paving that still has damp under it, and out of any abrasive cleaning on limestone.

Square metres do not decide a cleaning price. The same wall might need minutes or hours, according to what is on it.

What is growing. Damp sea air and salt feed green algae on the seaward walls, and black spots of lichen on stone take longest of all. Moss and lichen need a biocide applied and left, sometimes with a return visit once it has worked.

The surface. Soft Purbeck stone and lime pointing need a gentler touch than modern render or concrete paving. Every product we use is chosen to suit, and applied under the biocides regime the HSE administers.

Reaching it. A cottage hard against the road with no side gate, a stone terrace that wraps round the house, or the tall gable of a converted barn each need a different set-up, chosen under the work at height rules.

Covering up first. Borders tight to the wall, a conservatory roof below, or a car parked hard against the house all need protecting before the wash starts.

After the rinse. Biocide goes on working for weeks, so some staining fades later rather than on the day, and a check visit can be quoted.

Worth asking of any other quote: how will each surface be treated, is a biocide part of it, is a return visit included, and where does the run-off go?

We come out from our base in Boscombe, 11.2 miles away. We clean houses in Langton Matravers and along the Purbeck ridge, over to Swanage and Corfe Castle and across BH19, all within Dorset Council's boundary.

The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Every surface is looked at and priced by Thomas Hannen, the company's owner. A customer, verified by Checkatrade, gave us 10 out of 10. The visit is free of charge, as is the written quote with its itemised lines. Before you book a visit in Langton Matravers, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Langton Matravers 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.