Exterior cleaning in Westbourne

Render on the blocks. Westbourne has a lot of post-war and newer purpose-built flats, most of them rendered and painted. Sea air, salt and the shade of the pines keep those walls damp long after a shower, so algae, grey lichen and black spot come back quickly on the north and east faces and under balconies.

Render is soft washed: a biocide put on at low pressure through a wide nozzle, left long enough to kill the spores in the surface, then rinsed. It is the treatment that does the work, not the force. On a four or five storey elevation that means reach poles for the lower floors and a tower or a powered access platform for the rest, which we set out on the quote.

The Victorian villas. The big late Victorian houses in Westbourne, many now flats, are red brick, some painted, some partly rendered, with stone or painted cills and bays. Old brick has a fired face that keeps the weather out, and a jet wash does real damage to it. We use a low pressure and a treatment, test it on a hidden panel first, and point out any open or crumbling mortar joints, because they want repointing before they want washing.

Balconies, glass and walkways. In Westbourne, salt leaves a film on glass balustrades and window frames that a rinse will not shift, and hard mains water leaves spots behind, so glass gets purified water. Balcony floors are cleaned at low pressure with everything caught, because what comes off a third floor balcony otherwise lands on the one below. Communal paths, steps and bin stores are treated for slippery growth as well as washed.

Car parks, drives and communal paving. Block paving comes up with a rotary surface cleaner at controlled pressure, the weed and moss out of the joints, and then a full re-sand, because the wash takes the jointing sand out with the dirt. Tarmac and concrete take more pressure. Whether a seal is worth it on a busy car park is a straight conversation, not an add-on.

Roofs and gutters. Most of the pitched roofs here are slate or tile, and neither is ever pressure washed: moss is scraped out of the laps and off the ridge by hand and the slope treated, as the roof cleaning page sets out. Pine needles and moss collect in the valleys, outlets and downpipes, so clearing the gutters comes first. There is more on gutter cleaning in Westbourne.

Planting, cars and the drains. Communal beds and hedges are wetted with plain water and sheeted before any treatment goes near them, and each biocide goes on at the rate on its label, under the regime the HSE runs. A road gully is surface water, not foul drainage, so the pollution prevention guidance means nothing with product in it goes down one. On a car park that runs to a gully we screen and bag the moss and grit and catch the wash.

How long it takes. A converted villa is usually a day or two. A block with a car park is planned over several days so residents can still get in and out, and cars are moved in sections instead of all at once.

When a clean is the wrong answer. If paint is peeling or the render is cracked and letting water in, cleaning will not hold for long. We say so, and the fix belongs on the rendering side first.

No rate per square metre, because the same square metre can be twenty minutes or two, depending what is growing on it.

Getting to it. A converted villa with a gravel drive, a shop with two floors of flats above it fronting Poole Road, and a purpose-built block with an undercroft car park are three quite different jobs, and on a pavement frontage the run off has to be caught rather than left to reach the road gully. Ground level off a lance is one thing, a second storey or a roof slope is another. Reach poles do a lot of it, some of it wants a tower, and the work at height rules decide which.

The surface decides the method. Render, painted masonry, old brick, block paving and a tiled roof all want different pressure, and some want no pressure at all. Getting that wrong takes the surface off with the dirt, which is the expensive kind of clean.

How bad it has actually got. A light film comes off quickly. Years of organic growth needs treating, and often needs a second visit rather than more pressure.

Comparing quotes? Ask what method is being used on each surface, whether any treatment is included or just a rinse, whether a second visit is part of it, and where the run off is going. Compare the work first, then the money.

We cover Westbourne and the rest of BH4, from County Gates along Poole Road and Seamoor Road to the Alum Chine side, with Branksome and Canford Cliffs next door. BCP Council is the local authority, and our Boscombe base is under three miles away.

You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of 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. Before you book a visit in Westbourne, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Westbourne 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.