Exterior cleaning in Yarmouth

Painted render and old masonry. Nearly a third of Yarmouth predates 1919 and the biggest single band is pre-1900, so the older part of the town is render, brickwork and stone with lime in the joints, most of it painted, and old enough that the wall behind the paint is meant to breathe. That rules a lance out completely. Pressure on a painted render lifts the film in sheets and pressure on a lime joint washes it back further than you can judge from the ground, and on a solid wall that water has nowhere to go but inwards. These get brushed off dry, then a biocide through a soft wash nozzle at low pressure, then a clean water rinse.

How much of the roof is low. Slate on the older roofs, clay plain tile, and concrete interlocking tile on the post-war housing behind the town, where over a third of the dwellings are bungalows. That is the useful bit: a bungalow gives the same floor area under twice the roof, so more ridge, hip and verge to keep clear, but nearly all of it reachable from poles rather than a platform. Moss packs into the lap where one course covers the next and starts pushing water sideways under the tile, so the bulk comes off dry, scraped and brushed from the ridge downwards, then a soft wash and a biocide. Slate never sees a jet wash.

At under three kilometres from the coast, salt keeps render and paving damp between showers, so growth returns faster and the treatment matters more than the wash, and salt corrodes fixings and brackets from the edge in. While we are at the eaves we look at the metalwork, because a rusted through gutter bracket is worth knowing about before it lets go. Painted sash boxes, porches and weatherboarding are soft washed rather than lanced, because tired paint strips at surprisingly low pressure. Block paving takes a rotary surface cleaner and then re-sanding, while old brick and stone laid on sand or lime takes low pressure and a treatment. There are flats and converted properties here where the guttering is shared between households, and those are worth doing in one go rather than in halves. Drains are covered before a product is mixed, planting sheeted and watered down, and run off is put onto ground that will take it rather than left to run across hard standing towards the harbour, because pollution prevention guidance applies to a domestic job as much as a commercial one.

No rate per square metre, because the same square metre can be twenty minutes or two. Access decides most of it: a terrace on the square with no way through to the back means everything is carried, a bungalow behind the town is straightforward pole work off the ground, and a three storey seafront house wants a proper platform rather than a longer pole. work at height rules decide which of the three. Salt and old paint want low pressure and time. Ask each quote what method goes on each surface, whether a second visit is included, and where the run off is going.

We cover Yarmouth, Norton, Freshwater, Totland and the west Wight on PO41 and PO40, with Isle of Wight Council as the local planning authority. 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.