Power washing and soft washing in Naas

Soft washing for Naas houses

In a lot of Naas estates, late winter shows the same pattern: green and black streaks down the render, under the windowsills and below the gutters, worst on the side of the house that gets least sun. Pebble-dash catches it too, and once algae takes hold it spreads.

That's a job for a soft wash, not a pressure washer. Blasting render can mark the finish and force water into hairline cracks. A soft wash applies a cleaning solution at low pressure to deal with the growth, then rinses it away gently. We use it on:

• smooth and textured render, painted or bare
• pebble-dash and dry-dash
• painted block walls and garden walls
• uPVC fascias, soffits and window frames (fascia and soffit cleaning)

We'll tell you from your photos what to expect. Algae that has stained deep into old render doesn't always come out completely in one visit, and we'd rather say so up front.

Roof moss and blocked gutters

Many Naas houses built in the 1990s and 2000s have concrete tiled roofs, and moss loves them. It grows in thick cushions on the shaded slope, then washes down into the gutters every time it rains hard. Blocked gutters overflow, and that overflow is often what starts the streaks on the wall below.

For the roof, we take the moss off and clean the tiles without blasting them at high pressure, which can wear away the surface of concrete tiles. Then we clear the gutters and downpipes so the water has somewhere to go.

Access matters on roofs. A bungalow out near Kill is a very different job from a three-storey townhouse close to the town centre, so send a photo of the whole roof, taken from the road or the back garden.

While we're up there, we keep an eye out for cracked or slipped tiles and loose ridge pointing. We don't do roof repairs, but we'll tell you about anything we notice so you can get a roofer to look at it before the next storm finds it.

Start at the top

If more than one part of the house needs cleaning, the order matters. Moss and dirt fall downwards, so we work from the top:

1. Roof first, so the moss that comes off doesn't land on clean paving.
2. Gutters and downpipes next, cleared of whatever the roof sent into them.
3. Fascias, soffits and walls, soft washed once nothing above them is still dripping.
4. Drive, paths and patio last, so everything that fell is washed away in one go.

Booking it all together also means one visit, one set of preparation and one price.

Drives, paths and patios around Naas

At ground level, Naas is cobble-lock country. Many of the estates off the Sallins Road, around Monread and out towards Craddockstown have block-paved drives, and back gardens usually have concrete or sandstone patios. Hot water lifts the moss from the face of the blocks and out of the joints, takes the green film off slabs, and shifts tyre marks and everyday grime.

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Two things are worth knowing. Some joint sand comes out along with the moss, so the joints can sit lower afterwards. And oil that has soaked in for years usually lightens rather than vanishing. Driveway cleaning and patio cleaning cover both surfaces in more detail.

Out in the villages, houses often sit on bigger plots with longer drives and larger roofs. The job takes longer, but access is usually easier than in town.

In Naas itself, we also clean for businesses: shopfronts and the footpath outside them, forecourts, and the entrances, paths and bin stores of the business parks on the edge of town. Hot water deals with grease and gum, and we can agree a time that suits your opening hours.

Getting a price in Naas

Send us a photo of each wall, the roof and the paving you want done, plus your Eircode. If your estate has a management company and you'd like the shared paths or walls done, it's usually the management company that books those, and we're happy to quote them directly.

Timing is worth a thought too. Soft washing works best in a dry spell, so a forecast of heavy rain can push a wall job back a day or two. We avoid frosty mornings for everything, since a freshly washed surface can freeze. Spring and early autumn are the most popular times, so a little notice helps.

For the full list of surfaces we clean, see our power washing services.