Careful moss removal for stone houses, farmhouses and village homes around this hill-ringed market town. Hand scraping, gentle steam, a long-lasting biocide and a gutter flush, carried out from platforms rather than ladders.
More than 20 years spent cleaning roofs by hand.
Over 900 five-star reviews across Google and Checkatrade.
Cherry pickers and towers, never boots on your tiles.
Fully insured, with our workmanship guaranteed.
Beaminster lies in a hollow almost entirely enclosed by steep, wooded hills, close to where the River Brit begins its journey south to the sea. It is a lovely setting, but the same hills that shelter the town also trap damp air. Cloud settles on the high ground, rain drains down into the valley floor, and on the shaded side of a street a roof can stay wet from October to April. Hedgerows and copses around outlying farms add more shade and leaf fall.
The centre is built largely of the warm, honey-coloured local stone, with Georgian houses around the square and older cottages on the lanes leading out. Many have clay tile or slate roofs, while farmhouses and barns further out may carry stone slates or long runs of tile on deep, steep pitches.
Moss does its damage slowly, which is why it is so easy to ignore. Every clump acts as a reservoir, and in a valley where the air rarely dries out, it stays saturated for months. Over winter that extra water can make a roof as much as 20% heavier, adding strain to old timbers that may already have settled. Cold nights in the bowl bring the second problem: trapped moisture freezes, expands and gradually forces open joints, splits slates and shears the faces off clay tiles.
The third problem lands in the gutters. Lumps of moss wash down, compact in the outlets and stop water reaching the downpipe. The overflow then runs down stone walls, where persistent damp can soak through to the rooms inside.
Older stone properties reward patience, and our method is built around that. We take the moss away mechanically, clean the surface with steam, and then treat it so it stays clean, adjusting tools and pace to the age and material of each roof. None of it involves standing on the tiles, because we work from a cherry picker or tower throughout. You’ll hear exactly what we plan to do, based on the survey, before the work starts.
Deep moss is cleared first, by hand, from the platform. With telescopic scrapers and specialist roof tools we tease it out of tile gaps, from under ridge pieces and along valleys where it has built up for years. It is collected in bags as we work and removed from site for disposal, so lawns, gravel and flower beds are left clean.
The next layer is the one you see from the street: algae staining and patches of lichen bonded to the tile. Low-pressure steam softens it so it rinses away, with no hammering of the surface. That makes it ideal for the clay and slate on period houses in the town, and equally effective on concrete-tiled homes built more recently.
Even a spotless roof still carries invisible spores. We finish by applying a biodegradable, professional-grade biocide, the kind approved across the industry, which kills them along with any remaining root fragments. Without this step, moss may reappear in six to twelve months. With it, you can expect two to three years, often longer, of clean tiles, and topping up the treatment every two years stretches the benefit further.
On a two-hundred-year-old roof, every tile still in place is worth keeping. A jet wash gets results quickly but at the expense of the surface, and old clay and slate can’t take that punishment. So for every Beaminster roof we take the slower, gentler route. Here’s how the two methods compare side by side.
Moss coming off a roof has to go somewhere, and a lot of it heads for the gutters. That’s why we include a full gutter flush with every roof clean, rather than leaving you with blocked outlets.
We flush the gutters through, make sure each downpipe carries water away properly and bag any leftover debris for responsible disposal. In a town surrounded by trees and hedgerows, it also clears autumn’s leaves, so the whole system is ready for the wet months ahead in the valley.
Rural roofs bring their own access puzzles: steep pitches, long ranges, uneven yards and plots set into a slope. Our cherry picker reaches across wide and high roofs, and mobile towers go where a bigger platform can’t fit. Either way, the No Foot on Tile rule holds firm, so old tiles never take a person’s weight.
We hold Checkatrade-vetted status and full public liability insurance, and every job comes with guaranteed workmanship. We also clean roofs on schools and commercial buildings.
The problem: This detached house has a long clay plain-tile roof that sweeps low over rendered upper walls, with a traditional flint-and-brick base below. Years of moss had built up across the tiles, and it was worst on the shaded slope, which hardly dries out between autumn and spring. The moss had lifted the tile edges and held water against the roof. Clumps had also been washing into the gutters and blocking the outlets, so in heavy rain water spilled over the edge and ran down the white render, leaving streaks and a risk of damp.
What we did: Access was tight. A street lamp stands right beside the gable end, and the parking area is shared, so we positioned the cherry picker carefully and worked from the platform throughout. Nobody stood on the tiles at any point. We removed the moss by hand first, using scrapers to clear the gaps between tiles, along the eaves and around the chimney, and bagged it as we went. Next we steam cleaned the clay at low pressure to lift the algae and lichen without damaging the tile surface. We finished with a biodegradable biocide to slow regrowth. Last, we flushed the gutters and downpipes through, checked they were draining properly, and took all the debris away.
The result: The clay tiles are back to an even, warm red. You can see the difference in the first photo, where the neighbouring roof next to the lamp post is still waiting for its turn. The gutters are flowing freely, the render stays dry, and the drive and doorstep were left as tidy as we found them.
Broadwindsor
Broadwindsor sits west of Beaminster in hilly countryside, with plenty of older stone cottages and farmhouses alongside newer homes. Exposed hillside roofs catch a lot of wind-blown rain, and those sheltered by trees stay damp, so moss builds up on both. We use the cherry picker for steep cottage roofs and longer farm buildings, so nobody stands on the tiles.
Mosterton
Mosterton is north of Beaminster on the road towards Crewkerne, near the Somerset border. It’s a mix of traditional stone houses and more modern properties, and we clean both. Older clay and slate roofs get a low-pressure steam clean, and concrete-tiled roofs on newer houses get the same hand removal and biocide treatment.
The surrounding farms and hamlets
We also cover the farms and smaller settlements between the villages, including barns and outbuildings as well as houses. If you’re not sure whether we reach you, give us a call on 01202 618521 and we’ll let you know.
OTHER SERVICES
The same damp valley air that brings moss to Beaminster’s roofs also leaves its mark on gutters, walls and paving. If your roof needs attention, other parts of the house often do too, and we can usually take care of them on the same visit.
A gutter flush comes with every roof clean, but we also clear blocked gutters and downpipes on their own and repair leaking joints and sagging runs. Homes surrounded by trees and hedgerows benefit most from a clear-out each autumn. Read about our gutter cleaning and maintenance.
Some older roofs need more than a clean. If our survey finds slipped tiles, worn ridges or other wear, we’ll explain what we found and what can be done about it, so you can plan the work properly. Find out more about roof restoration and renovation.
Green algae and black staining build up quickly on render and stone in a sheltered spot like Beaminster. We use a gentle soft wash that lifts the growth without blasting the surface, which suits painted render and older stonework alike. See our render cleaning and soft washing services.
Moss, weeds and slippery algae on block paving, slabs and stone make paths look tired and can be a hazard in the wet months. We clean them back to their original colour and re-sand block paving where needed. More on driveway and patio cleaning.
Every roof is priced individually on its size and how much moss is present. We visit for free, look at the roof and confirm a single fixed figure that covers the gutter flush too.
Spring and autumn suit roof cleaning best, though we work seven days a week, 7am to 5pm.
A professional-grade biocide approved across the industry, which breaks down naturally because it is biodegradable.
Yes. Much of central Beaminster is a conservation area, with plenty of listed stone houses and cottages. Our method suits these older roofs well. We remove the moss by hand, use low-pressure steam rather than a jet wash, and work from a cherry picker or tower, so the tiles never take anyone’s weight. If your property is listed, let us know when you get in touch and we’ll talk you through exactly what we’ll do before any work starts.
Without a biocide, moss can come back within six to twelve months. With our biodegradable biocide treatment, most roofs stay clean for two to three years, often longer. Beaminster sits in a damp, sheltered valley, so shaded roofs and those near trees may need a top-up treatment sooner. A light re-treatment every couple of years keeps the roof looking its best.
No. That’s the reason we don’t pressure wash. A jet wash strips the surface off clay tiles and can crack or dislodge older slates. We clear the moss by hand and then soften the remaining algae and lichen with low-pressure steam, so the tile surface is left intact. It’s a slower process, but it’s the right one for period roofs like the ones around the town square.
Yes. Our cherry picker reaches across long, high roof ranges, and we use mobile towers where a larger platform won’t fit. That covers farmhouses and barns around Broadwindsor and Mosterton, and properties on sloping plots or uneven yards. If access looks tricky, we’ll check it at the free survey and plan the job around it.
Most houses are finished in a single day. Larger farmhouses, long barn roofs or very heavy moss can take a bit longer. We’ll give you a realistic timescale at the free survey, and the gutter flush and clean-up are included in that time.
Give us a call on 01202 618521 or fill in the enquiry form, and we’ll visit at no cost to look over your roof. We’ll explain the work and confirm a fixed price, and you’re under no obligation to proceed. We cover all of the DT8 postcode area.
Pop your details into the form and someone from the team will ring to fix a time for your free survey.
Read up on our roof moss removal and separate gutter maintenance service.
