Soft Wash in Dawlish

The Moore & Franks approach in Dawlish

Right on the sea wall, Dawlish gets the full coastal treatment: salt spray, wind off the bay and constant damp that leaves painted render and pebbledash streaked with algae and dark staining. The pastel-fronted homes around The Lawn and up the hillside terraces look tired fast in this climate. Hitting them with high pressure only strips paint and forces water in. Our soft wash approach treats the growth chemically at low pressure, so the colour lifts back out and the finish stays intact. We're a short run down from Exeter, give a fixed price before we start, and every job is covered by £5m public liability. Tidy work, clear pricing.

The wooded slopes above Holcombe and Smugglers Lane put a lot of Dawlish roofs and walls into permanent shade. Leaf litter and damp keep north-facing pitches wet through the year, and the slate and rendered elevations up the hillside grow moss and dark algae that will not shift with scrubbing. Soft washing suits these shaded properties well: a low-pressure biocide reaches the growth at root, so tiles and render come clean without the water ingress a pressure washer forces into an already damp wall.

The modern estates spreading toward Secmaton and Sandy Lane are not spared either. Their light render and silicone finishes show coastal grime and green film quickly in the damp sea air, and a smart new frontage can look weathered inside a few years. We clear it with a root-level treatment that leaves the coating untouched, then, for the more exposed plots, suggest an occasional repeat so the render holds its colour between visits rather than greening straight back.

Down around The Strand and Brunswick Place, where the black swans drift on Dawlish Water, the Regency and Victorian stock carries decades of organic staining on slate and painted render. These older, softer finishes cannot take pressure without losing paint and seal, so we work gently, applying the biocide at low pressure and letting it kill the growth in place. The result lifts years of coastal grime out of the surface while leaving the historic fabric completely sound.

Our Dawlish customers are typically within 25 minutes of our Exeter base. We cover the wider EX7 postcode area and the surrounding villages (Dawlish Warren, Dawlish Water (the Black Swans), Cockwood, Holcombe, Barton Hill, The Strand).