Roof Cleaning in Totnes

The Moore & Franks approach in Totnes

Totnes runs up its steep main street in the Dart valley, packed with Tudor merchant houses, Georgian frontages and the kind of period roofs that need handling with real care. Sitting low by the river and surrounded by wooded hills, the town holds damp, and moss and lichen settle fast on the older slate and clay. We never blast fragile tiles — it's hand removal, a proper biocide treatment and a gutter clear, done sensitively on listed and conservation-area properties. Family-run Devon firm with twenty-five years of period work behind us, fully insured, and respectful of what makes Totnes roofs worth preserving.

Across the river in Bridgetown the slate-roofed terraces face north into the valley shade, and their roofs green over with moss and algae quickly under the low light. We hand-scrape the growth off with carbon-fibre tools worked from the ground and soft-wash a biocide over the slate to kill the spores where they root. On Totnes's older roofs that treatment holds far longer than a pressure clean, which would only strip the surface.

The newer rendered homes spreading across Follaton and the western fringes streak and lichen-spot in the same low light, and we can treat roof and render together. On the steep older terraces along Fore Street, blocked downpipes send water straight down the rendered fronts, so we finish every clean by vacuuming the gutters and downpipes clear from the ground. No ladders lean against the render at any point.

So much of Totnes is listed or in the conservation area that heritage-safe methods matter as much as the finish, so on delicate period roofs we use DOFF superheated steam, cleaning on temperature rather than force. Autumn leaf fall off the oaks lining the Dart clogs gutters fast, and river damp keeps regrowth quick, so a biocide top-coat is worth having. We cover Dartington, Ashprington and Stoke Gabriel too, 30 minutes from Topsham.

Our Totnes customers are typically within 30 minutes of our Exeter base. We cover the wider TQ9 postcode area and the surrounding villages (Bridgetown, Follaton, Dartington, Berry Pomeroy, Ashprington, Stoke Gabriel).