Professional Render Cleaning in Rossendale

The wettest valley we work in

Rossendale takes well over a metre of rain a year and the valley sides block a lot of the sun. A rendered gable in Waterfoot, Stacksteads or the lower side of Haslingden can stay damp continuously from autumn through to spring.

Render in that environment does not stand a chance untreated. Three or four years from new and the north elevation is visibly green, and by year six it is the sort of dark, patchy growth people assume is permanent staining.

It is not permanent. It is alive, and killing it properly is a completely different job to washing it.

New estates, old stone, and the mix in between

The newer developments around Rawtenstall, Helmshore and Edenfield are largely thin-coat silicone render, the K-Rend type. Good material, thin coat, colour through the body, and unforgiving of rough treatment.

Then there is a lot of older pebbledash and painted sand-cement render on the interwar and post-war housing up the valley, and plenty of properties where a rendered extension has been added to an original stone house. That combination needs two different methods on one building, and the stone in particular must never see pressure.

We look at what is actually there before quoting rather than assuming from the postcode.

Why the valley chews through render faster

Two things. Constant damp, which is the growing medium, and wind, which does the delivery. The valley funnels westerlies straight up it, carrying spores off the moor and driving rain horizontally into elevations that would be sheltered anywhere flatter.

Properties up towards Cribden, Scout Moor and the tops get it worst. Those walls take driven rain that a house on the valley floor never sees, and they want a shorter cleaning cycle to match.

Exposure also means the bottom metre of render takes splash-back off the ground constantly, which is why growth so often starts at the base and works upwards.

Soft wash only, and what it involves

The wall is wetted, treated with a biocide and left to dwell so the solution can work into the surface, then rinsed at low pressure. The biocide keeps killing growth for months afterwards.

You will see a big improvement on the day and continued improvement over the following weeks as the dead growth weathers off in the rain. On heavily colonised walls a second visit is occasionally worth it, and we will say so upfront rather than overselling a single clean.

No high pressure. On thin-coat render a pressure washer takes the coat off, and because the colour is through the material the only repair is re-rendering.

Check the gutters before you clean the wall

A large proportion of the streaked, stained render we get called to in the valley is not really a render problem at all. It is a gutter problem that has been running down the wall for two or three winters.

Cleaning the streak off without fixing the overflow means paying twice. We check the guttering as part of the survey and will tell you if that is what you are actually looking at. See gutter cleaning in Rossendale.

Same goes for a leaking downpipe joint or a blocked gully splashing the bottom of the wall.

Cracks and water getting behind

Before anything is cleaned we check for cracks, hollow sections, failed window sealant and damaged beads at the base of the render. If water can get behind the render, washing the front of it will not help and can make the damp inside worse.

If we find it we tell you and recommend getting it repaired first. It is a short conversation and it saves a lot of grief.

Frequency and price in the valley

Three to four years is realistic for most Rossendale render, and every three for exposed or north-facing elevations. Treated walls last considerably longer than washed ones.

Cost depends on the area, the number of storeys, the severity and whether we can reach it from the ground with poles, which we usually can. Fixed price in writing before we start.

If the roof is due at the same time, doing both in one visit saves on set-up. See roof cleaning in Rossendale.