Exterior cleaning in Walhampton and Portmore

Roofs under a canopy. Over a quarter of the housing here predates 1919 and the largest single band is pre-1900, so the older cottages around Walhampton and the lanes down towards Portmore carry plain clay tile and natural slate, with concrete interlocking tile on the newer houses. All three go the same way under oak and beech: moss establishes in the laps, holds water against the tile and slowly lifts it. The bulk comes off dry, scraped from the gutter line upwards so the laps clear rather than pack, then a soft wash at low pressure and a biocide left on to finish the spores. What we will not do is put a lance on clay or slate. It takes the fired face off and washes the mortar out from under the ridge, and then you are paying for roof repairs to save a day on a clean.

Leaf fall is the standing problem. A gutter under mature trees packs with mulch, the outlet blocks, and the water goes over the back edge into the fascia instead of down the downpipe. A valley between two slopes does the same and hides it better. Clearing is by hand and by vacuum, every downpipe flushed through to prove it runs, and what comes out is bagged rather than washed into a gully. Twice a year is not fussy under this much tree cover. Nearly a third of the dwellings here are flats, and on those the roof and the gutters belong to the freeholder and come out of the service charge, so it is worth settling who can instruct the work before anyone quotes.

There is painted render and limewashed brick on the estate cottages, pebbledash on some of the post-war houses, and bare brickwork of an age that will not take pressure. All of it greens on the shaded side and all of it gets a soft wash: the treatment through a low pressure nozzle, time to work, then a gentle rinse. Force strips paint in stripes you can see from the road and takes mortar straight out of an old joint, so on anything lime bedded we test a patch round the back first.

More gravel and shingle here than anything else, with block paving on the newer closes and brick paviours at the older properties. Block paving gets controlled pressure with a rotary head and then re-sanding with kiln dried sand, because paving left with empty joints goes loose and weedy inside a season. Stone and old flags get less pressure and more chemistry, and black spot lichen honestly takes two goes. Beds are watered down and sheeted, drains and gullies covered, and where the run off goes is agreed before we start. Products are used at the rate on the label and only where they are approved for that surface, which is what the biocides regime the HSE administers expects, and pollution prevention guidance is the reason nothing finds its way into a watercourse.

No rate per square metre, because the same square metre can be twenty minutes or two. Access decides most of it: an estate cottage with low eaves you can reach off a pole, a converted block three storeys up with communal gutters, and a house set well back behind its own mature planting are three different jobs. Poles do a lot, some of it wants a tower, and work at height rules decide which. Ask each quote which method goes on each surface, whether a second visit is included, and where the water goes.

We cover Walhampton, Portmore and the SO41 villages either side of the Lymington River, out to Boldre, Pilley and East End, and the New Forest National Park Authority is the planning authority for this address. 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.