Paint Removal in Topsham

The Moore & Franks approach in Topsham

Topsham is home ground for us — our yard is on Ferryman Way, minutes from the Strand. It is also a town full of exactly the walls that should never have been painted: Dutch-gabled merchant houses, Georgian and Victorian terraces along Fore Street and the Quay, listed and conservation-area brick and lime that has to breathe to cope with the tidal Exe. Masonry paint on that fabric traps estuary damp inside it. Moore & Franks remove unwanted coatings, limewash and over-painting with DOFF superheated steam, gentle on heritage surfaces, test patch first. Family-run, twenty-five years, £5m public liability.

Central Topsham is largely listed, and that shapes every paint-removal job here. The Dutch-gabled merchant houses on the Strand and the Georgian terraces along Fore Street sit on solid brick and lime that has to breathe, especially this close to a tidal river that keeps the air damp for much of the day. Masonry paint brushed over that holds the estuary moisture in the wall, and the damage follows: blown render, damp inside, brick faces starting to spall. We lift the unwanted coating with low-pressure superheated steam, which clears it without abrading the soft old fabric underneath, and the wall gets to dry as it was meant to.

Plenty of the older houses down toward the Quay and Goat Walk have stone detailing, plinths and features that have been painted over the decades, sometimes more than once. Where the surface will give it up cleanly, we take that back to bare. Access is half the job in Topsham. The lanes off Fore Street are narrow, parking is tight, and walls are shared, so we plan each set-up so working one frontage does not block the road for the neighbours. This is our own town, so we know exactly how it sits.

Every Topsham job starts with a test patch on a discreet area. With this much listed and conservation fabric, proving the method on a small corner first is not optional. It shows us the coating lifts cleanly and the surface stays sound before we commit to a whole elevation. It also lets us be honest: some historic coatings have bonded in for good and will not come fully back to bare, and we say so. On a listed building we will flag where consent may be needed before the work, and we are happy to fit in with that.

Our Topsham customers are typically within 10 minutes of our Exeter base. We cover the wider EX3 postcode area and the surrounding villages (The Strand & the Quay, Goat Walk riverside path, Bowling Green Marsh, Fore Street, Darts Farm, Topsham Lock).