Exterior Cleaning in Thornton-Cleveleys

Inland streets, different problems

Away from the promenade the wind drops and the salt film eases, but the trade-off is shade and leaf fall. Sheltered elevations stay damp longer, so green algae spreads further up a wall. Roof pitches under or near trees hold moss year-round rather than drying out between showers, and that moss ends up in the gutters every autumn.

Thornton also has a good deal of newer housing, and newer housing on the Fylde generally means modern thin-coat render — K-Rend and other silicone systems. These look excellent for a few years and then green up, because the texture that gives them their appearance also holds moisture and spores.

• Moss on roofs shaded by mature trees
• Gutters blocked with leaves and moss debris
• Green algae creeping up rendered and pebbledashed walls
• Black streaking below sills and copings on modern render
• Damp inside walls traced back to a gutter that has been overflowing for a season

Roof cleaning and moss removal

Moss is the most common roof problem in this part of the Fylde. It holds water against the tiles, sheds constantly into the gutters and keeps a pitch permanently damp.

Every roof is looked at before a method is chosen. Moss is lifted with scraping tools matched to the tile profile so the tool follows the tile rather than scouring it, and the covering is then treated with sodium hypochlorite and biocide to slow regrowth. Gutters and downpipes are cleared once the debris is down, because everything taken off a roof lands in the rainwater system.

Render and K-Rend on newer Thornton homes

Modern render is soft washed. A cleaning solution is applied at low pressure, given time to break down the organic growth, then rinsed evenly across a whole elevation so the wall dries down consistently instead of in patches.

It is never pressure washed. On a thin-coat silicone render, a pressure lance takes the texture off with the algae and leaves lighter patches and straight wand marks that no later cleaning removes.