Soft Wash in Exeter

The Moore & Franks approach in Exeter

Exeter's mix of Victorian terraces, render-fronted semis and newer estate homes out toward Pinhoe takes a real beating from green algae and black spotting, especially on north-facing walls that rarely see the sun. Pressure washing those surfaces does more harm than good. Our soft wash method uses a low-pressure biocide that lifts the organic growth at the root, so render, painted brick and cladding come up clean without a cracked seal or blown patch in sight. We're based just down the road on Ferryman Way in Topsham, so Exeter jobs get a quick turnaround. Twenty-five years on the tools, fully insured, and we leave the place tidy.

Around the Cathedral Close and the Southernhay conservation area, Exeter still holds a good deal of exposed cob, lime-rendered frontage and soft older stone. Those breathable surfaces will not tolerate a jet wash without blowing the face off the render, so soft washing is genuinely the only method we will put near them. A biodegradable biocide, applied at low pressure and left to work, kills the algae and lichen in the surface without forcing water into fabric that needs to breathe.

The other end of the market matters just as much here. The silicone and monocouche render on the Cranbrook, Newcourt and Monkerton estates is now pushing past its first decade, and that is exactly when the north and east elevations start greening over. We treat the whole face at source rather than skimming the top, then set out a sensible retreatment interval so the growth stays off for years instead of creeping back within one wet Exe-valley winter.

Shade is the quiet culprit across much of the city. The leafy roads climbing through Pennsylvania and Duryard keep walls in permanent shadow, and the older, humid stock around St Thomas and Wonford barely dries between one band of rain and the next. On surfaces like these a treatment reaches the growth down in the pores instead of polishing it off the top, so a shaded wall holds its colour long after a blasted one has greened over again.

Our Exeter customers are right on our doorstep. We cover the wider EX1, EX2, EX3, EX4, EX5 postcode area and the surrounding villages (St Leonard's, Heavitree, Pinhoe, Topsham, Pennsylvania, Exeter Quay).