Acocks Green Conservatory Roof Cleaning Under the Street Trees
Plenty of the interwar semis in Acocks Green have a rear conservatory. The houses came with decent back gardens and a side driveway for access, which made adding one straightforward, and many of those conservatories went up in the 1990s and 2000s. That puts most of the roofs, largely polycarbonate, somewhere past their twentieth summer, and a lot have turned green because nobody could safely get up to them.
Green is the fixable problem. Algae on aged polycarbonate sits on the surface, so a soft-wash removes it and light comes back into a room that may have been left to the storage boxes. Yellowing is different and cleaning will not touch it, so we tell you which of the two you are looking at before any work is booked.
- Service
- Conservatory Cleaning
- Area covered
- Acocks Green, B27
- Local authority
- Birmingham
- How we do it
- Soft wash on the roof, no pressure on seals or polycarbonate
- From our Selly Oak base
- About 20 minutes
- Price
- Quoted per property before we start (quoting and booking questions)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
Sap over algae on a twenty-five-year-old roof
Two things push a B27 conservatory roof towards green. First, the tree cover: mature street trees through the semi grid, and the canal corridor on the Tyseley side, drop sap and leaf tannin through the summer, and that dries over the algae as a sticky film that takes longer to break down than algae on its own. Second, age. At twenty-five years a polycarbonate roof has weathered panels and hardened seals, so it holds growth readily and copes badly with rough handling. The conservatory gutter, set low under the branches, is usually the first thing on the house to block.
- Rear conservatories built onto the semi grid in the 1990s and 2000s, with roofs well past twenty
- Polycarbonate turned green with algae that washes off, a separate issue from panels gone yellow
- Sap and leaf tannin from the street trees and the canal corridor drying over the algae each summer
- Hardened seals and weathered glazing bars that a pressure washer would force water past
- A low conservatory gutter under the branches, collecting leaves before the house gutter does
Low-pressure soft-wash that spares hardened seals
Our soft-wash runs at low pressure on every roof, whether the roof is polycarbonate or glass. We apply the solution, give it long enough to cut through the sap and tannin film and then the algae beneath, and rinse with pure water. A pressure lance stays in the van: on a weathered roof it scratches the panels, drives water past old seals and can split a tired glazing bar. Frames, bars and seals are wiped by hand afterwards, and the conservatory gutter is emptied and flushed on the same visit.
- Low-pressure soft-wash on every roof, with dwell time for the summer sap and tannin film
- Roofs that have been green for several years quoted for two applications from the start
- Frames, bars and seals wiped by hand, and any perished seal photographed and shown to you
- The low conservatory gutter emptied and its downpipe flushed while we are there
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: how we do conservatory cleaning, step by step.
Conservatories behind the B27 semis
The conservatories sit almost entirely on the semi grid, in the streets off Westley Road and Yardley Road and those running down towards Fox Hollies Park. Side driveways let us carry the kit to the back garden without coming through the house, which keeps the job simple. Spring is a good time, so the room is bright before summer, and the conservatory gutter is cleared on the same visit. A visit within the week is usually possible.
Roof size, glass or polycarbonate, and seasons of growth
The quote depends on the size of the conservatory, whether the roof is polycarbonate or glass, and how many seasons of growth are on it. A roof done last spring is a short job. A big one that has sat under tall trees for eight years may need two rounds of solution, and a few photographs let us price that properly first. Yellowed polycarbonate is worth knowing about before you book: that is UV breaking down the panel, so cleaning leaves it yellow even when every trace of green has gone. We say which you have from the photographs.
Twice a year under the street trees or beside the canal
Twice a year suits a conservatory under the street trees or backing onto the canal corridor, and in Acocks Green that covers many of them: spring to bring the light back, autumn to clear the sap and leaf load before winter. An open garden away from the tree line can manage with one visit a year. Whichever you choose, the conservatory gutter wants checking on the shorter cycle, because under these branches it fills well before the roof shows any green.
Excellent job, highly recommended.
Great services delivered by Charles recommend for others
I’m very satisfied with the service I get
Acocks Green · Conservatory Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
No, very unlikely. On aged polycarbonate the green is algae sitting on the surface, and a soft-wash lifts it even after years. The light comes back and the room tends to get used again.
Yes. The pole reaches over the ridge from the ground, so both slopes, the finials and the ridge capping are done with nothing resting on the roof. A faceted end takes longer than a lean-to and is priced that way. Where older panels have yellowed as well as greened, the green comes off and the yellow, being UV damage in the panel, stays.
No. Soft-washing is chosen because of seals that age. Pressure is what drives water past a hardened seal or cracks a weathered glazing bar, so we do not use it. If a seal has already perished we photograph it and show you, so you know it was that way before we started.
Yes, it is included. On these semis it sits below the house guttering and often right under the branches, so leaves fill it first and the overflow runs down the frame into the border. We empty it and flush the downpipe while the roof is drying.
Yes. Most houses on the semi grid have side access, which is how we normally get round. Where there is none, we carry the equipment through the house with dust sheets down, and we arrange that with you when we quote so there are no surprises on the day.
Other cleaning we do in Acocks Green
Tell us about the job
Send a few details or photos and we’ll come back with a clear price and an estimated time, with no obligation.