Will soft washing damage white PVC boards?

No. The whole point of soft washing is that the cleaning is done by the solution rather than by force, so the boards are not blasted, scoured or left with the dull patches that high pressure can leave on plastic.

Why do the black marks keep coming back so quickly?

Because a surface wipe only takes the top off the growth. The solution we use works on the root of the algae and mould as well as the part you can see, which is what slows the return down rather than just hiding it for a few weeks.

Do you clean the guttering face at the same time?

The outside face of the guttering, the fascia board and the soffit underneath are all cleaned as one run, because they collect the same dirt and it looks odd to do one without the others.

Can this be done without touching the windows below?

The run off is rinsed down, so we wet down and rinse the glass, frames and sills underneath as part of the job rather than leaving streaks behind on them.

Is it worth doing in the colder months?

Yes. Damp autumn and winter air is when green algae and mould spread fastest along a shaded roofline, so cleaning at this point takes the growth off while it is at its most active.

Soffit and Fascia Cleaning

Soft wash cleaning of soffits, fascia boards and gutter faces to lift cobwebs, mould and black staining.

What soffit and fascia cleaning covers

The soffit is the board tucked under the overhang of your roof, the fascia is the upright board the guttering hangs from, and between them they take the brunt of everything the weather throws at the top of your house. Over a few seasons they collect cobwebs, dust, spider spotting, green algae and the grey to black streaking that dry cleaning cloths never quite shift.

We clean them with a soft wash. A dilute solution is applied at low pressure and given time to work on the growth, then the boards are agitated where they need it and rinsed off. It washes away the surface spores and growths and also attacks them at their roots, which is why the boards stay looking clean for far longer than they do after a quick wipe over.

Every board is treated according to what it is made of, so a woodgrain effect capping, a smooth white PVC soffit and a painted timber fascia are not all approached in the same way.

Low pressure, not blasting

Delicate plastic, painted timber and vent strips are cleaned with solution and gentle agitation rather than with force that could mark or lift them.

Killed at the root

The solution goes after the growth at source instead of only removing the surface layer, so green and black marks come back far more slowly.

The right product per surface

White PVC, coloured cappings, vented soffits and painted board all get the product suited to them rather than one mix used on everything.

Roofline finished as a whole

Soffit, fascia, gutter face and bargeboards are cleaned together, and the windows and sills below are rinsed down afterwards.

Autumn and winter

Why the damp season makes this worth doing now

Algae, mould and lichen need moisture and mild temperatures, which is exactly what a North East autumn provides. From September the roofline stops drying out between showers, the shaded north facing side stays wet for days at a time, and growth that was creeping along slowly in summer takes off.

Cleaning during this stretch removes the growth while it is establishing itself rather than waiting until spring, by which point it has spent a whole winter working into the grain and around the joints of the boards.

There is a practical reason to do it now too. Once the guttering is clear for winter, the roofline is the other half of the same job, and getting both done in one visit means no one is working up at the top of your house twice in the worst of the weather.

What is included

Soffits, fascia boards and bargeboards soft washed
Outer face of the guttering cleaned along the same run
Cobwebs, nests debris, spider spotting and dust removed
Green algae, mould and black streaking treated at the root
Windows, frames and sills below rinsed down after the wash
Products chosen to suit PVC, capping or painted timber

Signs the roofline needs attention

Black tiger stripes running down the face of white guttering
A green film building along the soffit on the shaded side
Heavy cobwebbing and dark spotting in the corners of the overhang
Boards that look grey rather than white from the pavement
Marks that reappear within weeks of being wiped by hand
Staining around the joints between two lengths of board

How the clean is carried out

1
Identify the material
We check what the boards actually are, since capping, vented soffit and painted timber each need a different approach.
2
Protect below
Planting and any sensitive surfaces underneath are wetted down before we start so nothing sits dry under the run off.
3
Apply the solution
The dilute mix goes on at low pressure across the run and is left for the time it needs to work on the growth.
4
Agitate the stubborn areas
Heavier staining, joint lines and corners get worked over with a soft brush rather than with more pressure.
5
Rinse the roofline down
The whole run is rinsed off, and the windows, frames and sills underneath are rinsed with it so nothing dries on.

Very old or already crazed boards are always worth a conversation first. We will tell you honestly what a clean will and will not achieve on them before anything is booked.

Get a free quote Call 07501060609

Soffit and fascia questions

Where we work

Roofline cleaning is carried out across Washington, Sunderland, Newcastle, Gateshead, Durham and the wider North East.

See the towns and villages we cover