Professional Render Cleaning in Preston

Wind, estuary damp and a lot of modern render

Preston is more open than the east Lancashire towns, and what it lacks in valley shade it makes up for in wind and damp air off the Ribble estuary and the coastal plain.

Driven rain is the main event here. Rain arriving horizontally soaks elevations that would stay dry somewhere more sheltered, and the wind carries spores a long way across open farmland.

Preston also has more modern render than almost anywhere else we work, because of the volume of new housing built here over the last twenty years.

New build estates and thin-coat render

Cottam, Broughton, Ingol, Buckshaw and the developments north and west of the city are full of thin-coat silicone and monocouche render, often in light greys and creams that show algae early and obviously.

That is the most common call we get in Preston: a ten or twelve year old house where the render still has years of life in it but looks filthy on one elevation. Almost always a straightforward soft wash and biocide treatment.

It is also the render most easily destroyed by a pressure washer, because the coat is thin and the colour runs through it. Once it is off, the repair is re-rendering.

Older stock through Fulwood, Ashton and Penwortham

The older parts of Preston have more pebbledash and painted sand-cement render, and more mature trees overhead.

Trees mean shade, slow drying and tannin staining from leaf drip, which is not organic growth and does not respond to biocide in the same way. We will tell you which of the two you have got.

Pebbledash needs dwell time rather than force. Every gap between the stones holds growth, and the only way to get it out without stripping the stones off is to let the chemistry work.

The soft wash, step by step

Wet the elevation down, apply the biocide solution, leave it to dwell and penetrate the surface, rinse at low pressure, and wash down the windows, sills and the ground below.

The wall improves substantially on the day and keeps improving over the following weeks as the dead growth weathers off. That ongoing action is the reason a treated wall stays clean for years.

No high pressure at any point, on any render type.

The bottom metre of the wall

On a lot of Preston properties the worst growth is in the first metre above ground level, and that is usually not a render problem at all. It is splash-back off a path or drive keeping the base of the wall permanently wet, or a blocked gully doing the same job more efficiently.

Cleaning the render without dealing with that means it comes straight back. Sometimes the right answer is to do the driveway and the drainage at the same time.

Damaged or missing bellcast bead at the bottom of the render is the other thing we look for, because it lets water wick up behind the coat.

What we check before quoting

Cracks, hollow sections, window and door sealant, the base bead, and whether any gutter or downpipe is discharging onto the wall. See gutter cleaning in Preston if that turns out to be the cause.

If water can get behind the render we will recommend repair before cleaning, because washing the face of it will not help and can push internal damp the wrong way.

Cost and frequency

Driven by render area, storeys, severity and access. Most Preston housing, including the newer estates, is straightforward to reach from the ground with poles.

Three to five years between treatments. Fixed price in writing before we start, and combining it with the roof in one visit works out cheaper.