Seasonal House Wash and Windows — Villeroy Street, Hampton East

Weatherboard shows a year of weather more plainly than brick does, because the surface is paint rather than a fired face. Dust settles along the top edge of every board, cobwebs fill the shadow line under each lap, and the growth on the roof above had reached the point where it was visible from the street but had not yet rooted into the tile.

Top down, in one pass. The roof was cleared first so that what came off it did not land on walls that were already finished, the weatherboard was washed next at low pressure with a cleaning solution, and the glass was done last, outside and then inside. On painted timber the pressure is the whole question: the job is to lift what is sitting on the coating without driving water behind the boards or taking the paint with it.

• Roof moss cleared first, before any wall was touched
• Weatherboard façade washed at low pressure with a cleaning solution
• Lap shadows, eaves and window surrounds cleared of cobwebs and wind-blown dust
• Upper storey reached from ladders and poles rather than off the roof edge
• All windows cleaned outside, after the walls rather than before
• Windows cleaned inside as well, with sills and floors protected
• Roof, walls and glass completed in one visit

• Two technicians, six hours
• Roof, walls and glass finished in a single visit
• Seasonal growth removed before it could root into the tile