Exterior cleaning in Sopley
Roof moss, green render, overflowing gutters and slippery paving, cleaned without taking the surface off with the dirt.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
The green on a Sopley roof is nearly always moss, on concrete interlocking tile or on older clay, and it comes off with a scrape and a soft wash, not with a jet. Pressure on a concrete tile takes the sand off the face, which is what makes it hold moss twice as fast next time round.
In Sopley the north pitch, the gutters and the paving are what usually go wrong. The north pitch of the roof has gone dark and the moss is now dropping into the gutter and the borders. The gutters themselves have started running over the front door in heavy rain. Or the drive, the path and the patio have gone green and slippery and it is no longer a thing you can walk on in ordinary shoes.
We price it surface by surface. What is growing, what it is growing on, which way that elevation faces and whether the paint or the render underneath is sound enough to be cleaned at all. Some of it washes off the same morning. Some of it needs treating and then a few weeks to die back before it looks like anything. You get a free site visit and a free written itemised quote with the method written against every line on it.
The work
What actually needs doing on a house in the village
Concrete tile roofs. The newer houses in Sopley carry concrete interlocking tile. Moss sits in the channel of that tile and packs into the lap where one course covers the next, and once the lap is full the water goes sideways rather than down.
It is a dry scrape and a brush, then a soft wash at low pressure through a wide nozzle with a biocide behind it. The older cottages towards the church and the mill are clay plain tile and slate, and those get less pressure again, because the force gets under a lap, works at nail heads you cannot see and washes out the mortar bedding under the ridge, which is usually the oldest thing on the building.
Trees, the river and the gutters. The mature trees through Sopley and along the Avon drop leaf and twig into every gutter and valley, and a gutter packed with mulch holds water against the fascia and feeds the moss on the bottom courses. Clearing them is worth doing in the same visit as the roof. Where next door is just as green, doing both together stops the spores blowing straight back across.
Render, pebbledash and painted masonry green on the sheltered and the north facing sides first, while the south west elevation takes the driven rain. We test the paint before we touch it, because masonry paint that has gone chalky comes off in sheets under a lance and hands you a redecoration, so that is a soft wash and a rinse in clean water. Algae is a film and goes quickly. Black spot and lichen are rooted into the surface and need a biocide and several weeks, not a bigger machine.
Drives, paths and patios are tarmac, slabs and block paving, with a few shared parking areas. A driveway in block paving comes up with a rotary surface cleaner and is then re-sanded, because the wash lifts the kiln dried sand out of the joints along with the weed. A patio or a path in the shade of a hedge is a safety job, not a cosmetic one. White fascia, soffit and gutter that has gone grey and streaked, and conservatory and porch glass, clean up off the same reach pole set up while we are there.
Planting below is sheeted and watered down before anything is mixed, every gully and drain in the fall of the work is covered, and anything we spray goes on at the strength on the label, which is the plain version of what the biocides regime the HSE administers asks of whoever is holding the lance.
How it runs
Cleaning walls, roofs and paving on a village house
Thomas comes out, looks at each surface and works out the right method: a soft wash with a biocide for render, roof tiles and painted walls, a controlled pressure clean for paving, and hand work around anything fragile. A Sopley house might have a tiled roof carrying moss, render or pebbledash on the front, and block paved drives, and each needs a different treatment.
The quote is itemised by surface, with protection, access and where the run off goes on separate lines. Thomas prices it himself, and you deal with one company throughout. Plants, windows and doors are covered, drains are protected, and the moss and debris we take off are swept up and removed. Cracked render, a loose tile or failed pointing that the clean uncovers is pointed out with a photo and priced, and left alone until you decide.
A wash is upkeep, so there is no application to make. The rules only matter for what you might do once the wall is clean. Painting brick that has never been painted, or rendering over it, alters the look of the house, and the Planning Portal explains when that needs consent. Listed buildings in Sopley need consent for a change like that, and New Forest District Council will tell you if a conservation area covers your street. The National Park Authority's property map shows any other designations.
Cost
Growth, height and run-off in a cleaning price
What is growing on it. Green algae on render comes off with a biocide and a soft wash. Thick moss on a roof has to be scraped off by hand before any treatment, and black lichen on paving takes longer and may need a second visit once the biocide has worked. The biocides regime the HSE administers governs which products can be used.
Height. A bungalow roof or a single storey wall is reach-pole work from ground level. A two storey gable or a roof needs a tower or roof ladders, and work at height rules decide which.
Setting up. A cottage where the van can pull up outside is one job. A house with a narrow gate and a hose run through the garden takes longer to set up.
Run off. Wash water with biocide in it must not go into a surface water drain, which carries it to a watercourse. We collect or divert it, and pollution prevention guidance sets the rules.
The surface itself. Too much pressure takes the face off soft brick or render and strips the sand from block paving joints, which then need re-sanding. Getting the method right is part of the price.
Ask another quote what method and products they use, what happens to the run off, and whether re-sanding the joints is included.
If there is a date
A sale, a viewing or a date you need to hit
If you have a sale, a valuation or a family event coming up, or a path has turned slippery with algae, ring us. Tell us the date and the surfaces, and we will say honestly whether it can be done properly by then; some growth needs a biocide left to work before the final wash.
On the first visit we look at each surface and can treat a slippery path first. Scheduled work Mon to Fri, 8am to 6pm. Something urgent? Ring, and if we miss you we call back.
Worth knowing
Why a whole row tends to go at once
Neighbouring houses in Sopley share the same weather, the same shade from the trees along the Avon and the same damp coming off the water meadows. Whatever the roof is made of, the houses either side of yours are soaking up the same rain and drying out in the same sun, so their surfaces age at much the same pace as your own.
It is why the moss arrives on your neighbour's north pitch the same year it arrives on yours, and why one house on a row can look neglected when nothing has been neglected at all. Aspect does the rest. The elevation that faces away from the sun stays damp for hours longer after rain, and algae and lichen ask for very little beyond a surface that stays wet.
If you share a roof slope or a gutter run with next door, the practical advice changes. First, one continuous gutter carries growth and water from their side onto your wall, and treating your own length alone fixes little.
Getting the run done in one visit is quicker and cheaper per house than three separate call outs, and we will still quote each address separately so everybody pays for their own. Second, cleaning one roof in a row makes the two either side look worse than they did the day before. That is worth a conversation over the fence before you book, not after.
Who you are dealing with
Who cleans it, and how to check the firm
We cover Sopley, Ripley and Bransgore on BH23, out through Burley, Thorney Hill and into Christchurch. Our Boscombe base is 3.7 miles from the village, and planning for this address is New Forest District Council rather than Dorset or BCP, which catches people out on the Christchurch side of the river.
Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Thomas Hannen owns the company and comes to price the clean in person. On Checkatrade, one verified customer gave a 10 out of 10. The visit costs nothing; nor does the itemised written quote. Before you book a visit in Sopley, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Sopley?
Most repairs in Sopley 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.
| Question | In Sopley |
|---|---|
| Who decides | New Forest District Council is the planning authority for Sopley. The National Park boundary runs close by, and the Park's property map shows which side an address falls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: the Sopley Conservation Area, designated by New Forest District Council, covers the village, so check whether your street is inside it. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Sopley. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Sopley. |
Questions
Questions about exterior cleaning in Sopley
Sopley is a conservation area. What can we not do outside?
You can wash it. Appearance is what the designation controls, so cleaning brick, render, tile or paving back to its own colour sits on the safe side of that line. Where it bites is a change of material or finish: rendering a brick front, coating a tiled roof, painting stone that was never painted. The village has 26 listed entries as well, the Church of St Michael and All Angels among them, and those need the method agreed first.
Next door's roof is green too. Should we do both?
It helps, and where two houses share a roof slope or a gutter it sometimes decides the job. Treating your side while next door stays green achieves very little, because spores and water cross the line. We are happy to price each house separately so everybody pays for their own, then do both in one visit. Getting to a rear elevation usually needs the neighbour's say so too.
Why does the south west wall green over worse than the rest?
Because it takes the weather. The most exposed elevation in Sopley faces south west, so that wall gets the driven rain and stays wet longest after a front goes through, and growth follows the water. The same wind works at the edges rather than the middle, so you see it worst around window reveals, along the verge and on the bottom course. We treat that elevation on its own timetable and often leave the sheltered sides.
Our roof is concrete tile. Is it safe to clean?
Yes, if the ridge is sound. Concrete interlocking tiles clean well provided the ridge and verge hold, because on a roof like that the ridge was usually bedded in mortar when the tiles went on and it has aged with them. If the bedding is loose, that is the job, not the moss.
How quickly can someone look at it from your yard?
Sopley is about three and a half miles out, and we agree a day for the look when you ring. Thomas Hannen comes himself, walks the outside, and writes up an itemised quote that is yours to keep whether or not you use us. Where the property is one of the listed ones, or the rear access is awkward, he will say on the visit what that adds before it turns up in writing.
Nearby, and next door
Exterior cleaning near Sopley
Nearby places we also cover for exterior cleaning, with straight-line distances from Sopley, and the other trades we offer in Sopley itself.
Exterior cleaning nearby
Our other trades in Sopley
Exterior cleaning guides
Soft washing vs pressure washing: safe for a roof? How to clean a patio without damaging it Moss on a roof: does it need removing?Everything we do in Christchurch Exterior cleaning, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Get a price for cleaning in Sopley
Tell us the address and what has gone green. We come out, look at it and put an itemised price in writing, and neither the visit nor the quote costs you anything.