Exterior Cleaning in Sherborne
Sherborne is a stone town, and that golden limestone is the whole reason to be careful here. It is beautiful, it is soft, and it does not forgive anyone who turns up with a lance and full pressure.
Golden stone, and a soft one.
The warm honey colour that gives Sherborne its character comes from the local limestone, and limestone of that type is porous and comparatively soft. Its weathered outer face has taken centuries to form. Strip that off with pressure and you expose raw, open stone underneath which then soaks up water, holds it and breaks down faster than it ever would have.
The damage is not always obvious on the day either. A blasted stone wall can look impressively clean and then start shedding face and shaling a couple of winters later, by which point the person who did it is long gone.
So stone in Sherborne gets a low-pressure, treatment-led clean. Slower, yes — but it takes the algae and lichen off without taking any of the stone with it, and the lime mortar joints stay where they are.
What we clean in Sherborne.
What we will not do.
If a stone elevation in Sherborne has failing pointing, spalling faces or previous pressure-washing damage, cleaning it is not the first job — repair is. We would rather tell you that and lose the work than take money for something that makes the problem worse. Where the stone is sound, a proper softwash will lift decades of lichen and leave the surface exactly as it was.
Questions from Sherborne.
Is it safe to clean Ham stone?
Cleaned properly, yes. Pressure washed, no. Ham stone is a soft, porous limestone whose weathered face has taken centuries to form — strip that and the raw stone underneath absorbs water and breaks down. We use low pressure and a treatment that lifts the growth without touching the stone.
Do you work in the conservation area?
Yes. Our methods are the gentle end of the scale to begin with, which is exactly what conservation-area property needs. If you are unsure whether consent is required for anything, it is always worth a quick call to the council first.
Do you cover the villages around Sherborne?
Yes — Yetminster, Bradford Abbas, Milborne Port and the surrounding villages are all within our normal area, and Yeovil is only a few miles west.
Sherborne is about twelve miles west of our base near Sturminster Newton.
Ready to see the difference?
Send a photo of the job and we will come back with a clear, fixed price within 24 hours — and honest advice on whether cleaning is the right call.