Exterior cleaning in Wool

Concrete tile, and the ridge under it. Over half the village was built between 1945 and 1982, with the peak in the 1970s and early 1980s, so the standard covering is concrete interlocking tile, with clay plain tile and slate on the older houses down by the river and a little thatch.

Moss beds into the channel and then packs the lap, and a packed lap makes water run sideways under the tile instead of down to the gutter. We work from the ridge down: the bulk comes away dry with a scrape and a stiff brush, and only then does anything wet go on, a soft wash and a biocide. On housing of this age the ridge tiles and the verges are usually still bedded in mortar, and mortar that has been up for forty odd years is often soft, cracked or already washed thin. A lance on a ridge finishes it off, which is how a clean turns into a roofing bill, so we check the bedding before anything is turned on and photograph what has already gone. Slate takes no jet wash at all.

Dry dash is the surface people ruin. Dry dash is pebbledash by another name: spar or gravel thrown onto a wet coat and left proud. There is a great deal of it here and it is the single most damaged surface in this trade, because it looks tough and is not. Pressure knocks the stone off in bare patches, and once a patch is bare no amount of touching up hides it. It gets a soft wash nozzle at low pressure and a biocide, and painted masonry and smooth render get the same. The older brickwork by the bridge has lime in the joints and is treated the same way as any old wall: brushed dry, then treated, never forced.

Block paving is everywhere in Wool and it cleans up well, but it has to be re-sanded afterwards, because the wash pulls the kiln dried sand out of the joints along with the weed and blocks without full joints start to creep under the wheels. We use a rotary surface cleaner rather than a bare lance so the pressure is spread and the block faces stay on.

There is heath and pine on the edge of Wool as well as trees through it, and pine needles knit into a mat in the gutters, so gutter clearing is worth adding to a roof clean. Painted timber fascia and soffit get a soft wash and a brush, because pressure on old paint strips it. Drains and any gully near the work get covered, planting sheeted and watered down, and anything approved for the surface goes on at the strength printed on the label, which is what the biocides regime the HSE administers requires. Run off goes onto ground that will take it, not across the drive into a road drain, and pollution prevention guidance applies to a house on an estate just as it does to a yard.

Two walls the same size can differ by hours, depending on the growth and the reach. Reach. Where the only route to the back of a terrace or semi is through a side gate or the house, hoses and kit are carried through.

A two storey estate house can usually be done from the ground with a water fed pole. A detached house with its own drive is the quickest set up. When the pole will not do, the work at height rules bring in a tower.

Growth. South west facing render in Wool takes the wet weather and greens over sooner. Thick moss on concrete tiles, or weed in block paving joints, takes much longer than a film of algae.

Surface type. Render, paint and timber get low pressure and a biocide given time to work. Block paving gets re-sanded. A roof is a separate job with its own access.

Water. We need an outside tap, and the dirty water has to be kept away from drains that run to a stream.

Coming back. Biocide carries on working for weeks, and some surfaces are only finished properly on a return visit.

When you compare quotes, ask what goes on each surface, whether a return visit is priced in, and where the run off ends up.

We clean houses in Wool, Bovington, East Burton, Coombe Keynes and Winfrith Newburgh on BH20, and out to Wareham and the Lulworths. From Boscombe it is 17.1 miles, and Dorset Council is the local planning authority. Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd holds company number 15471719, registered in England and Wales. Before you book a visit in Wool, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

The business belongs to Thomas Hannen, who looks at the walls, roof and paving and prices the clean himself. Checkatrade shows a 10 out of 10 left by a verified customer. There is no charge for the visit, and the written quote is free.

Most repairs in Wool 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.