Orangery and Conservatory Cleaning in Edgbaston Gardens
In Edgbaston the glazed room at the back of a house is often an orangery, not a bolt-on conservatory. Adding one to the garden elevation of a conservation-area or listed house needs consent, so what got built here tends to be a masonry orangery with a flat roof and a glazed lantern, or an architect-designed garden room, alongside the uPVC conservatories on the later houses. Each is cleaned differently.
The distinction changes the work. A lantern sits on a flat roof, so debris that would slide off a pitched conservatory simply stays where it lands. The flat roof around it collects leaf litter and grit, and the outlet in it is what fails. There are also older glasshouses and lean-tos surviving in the gardens of estate houses, built in painted timber and putty, which need a gentler hand again.
- Service
- Conservatory Cleaning
- Area covered
- Edgbaston, B15 and B16
- Local authority
- Birmingham
- How we do it
- Soft wash on the roof, no pressure on seals or polycarbonate
- From our Selly Oak base
- About 10 minutes
- Price
- Quoted per property before we start (what the quote covers)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
Limes and planes over flat orangery roofs and lanterns
Canopy, far more than neglect, is what turns glazed roofs green in B15. The estate roads, the streets around the Botanical Gardens and the plots running down towards the reservoir carry mature limes and planes, and they drop sap and leaf tannin that bakes on over the summer on top of the algae underneath it. On a pitched roof some of that washes off. On a flat orangery roof it stays. Two further local complications: the outlet and the flashing at the lantern upstand silt up, which is what actually makes an orangery leak, and a good deal of the newer glazing here is coated, which the wrong chemistry ruins permanently.
- Roof lanterns sitting on a flat orangery roof, where debris settles and stays, with no pitch to shed it
- Sap and leaf tannin from mature limes and planes baking on top of the algae through the summer
- Flat-roof outlets and the flashing at a lantern upstand silting up, which is the real cause of most orangery leaks
- Coated and self-cleaning glass, which an abrasive pad or the wrong solution damages for good
- Older glasshouses and lean-tos in estate gardens, built in painted timber and old putty
Soft-wash from the ground, pure water only on coated glass
Soft-washing at low pressure throughout, worked from the ground on a pole, so nothing leans on a glazing bar, a lantern upstand or a painted timber frame. Solution goes on, is given time to break down the algae and the tannin, then is rinsed off with pure water so it dries without spotting. Coated glass is identified before anything is applied to it and is cleaned with pure water alone. Frames, glazing bars and finials are finished by hand, with uPVC, aluminium and painted timber each handled differently. The flat-roof outlet and the conservatory guttering are cleared as part of the job, and if an outlet sits beyond what the pole can reach from the ground, we say so at the quote.
- Coated and self-cleaning glass identified before any solution touches it, then cleaned with pure water alone
- The flat-roof outlet and the flashing at the lantern upstand cleared, because that is where an orangery leaks
- Low pressure throughout, with nothing rested on a glazing bar, an upstand or an old timber glasshouse frame
- Putty and paint on surviving glasshouses treated gently and never scrubbed back to bare
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: conservatory cleaning across Birmingham.
Where the glazed rooms in B15 are
Most of it is on the garden elevations of the larger houses on the estate roads and the bigger B16 stock, plus lanterns over kitchen extensions on the newer developments off the Hagley Road. You will find very little of it on the front of anything, for the obvious conservation reason. Spring is when almost all of it is booked, so the room is clear and light through the summer. At about ten minutes from Selly Oak, a slot within the week is usually possible.
Lantern, flat roof and outlet quoted together as one Edgbaston job
Size, roof material and how long it has been left set the price. A lantern is quoted with the flat roof and its outlet rather than as glass on its own, because separating them would leave the part that causes leaks uncleaned. Heavy tannin under a mature lime often needs a second application of solution and a second visit within the same job, which we build into the quote from the start. One limitation: old glass that has been etched or pitted, and a degraded coating on a sealed unit, will not come back with cleaning. We also do not carry out seal or flashing repairs, so we have no reason to overstate what we find.
Twice a year under a mature tree, every spring for the rest
Twice a year where a mature tree overhangs the glass, which in Edgbaston describes a good many properties. Once a year, in spring, is right for everything else. The sensible extra is an autumn check of the flat-roof outlet and the conservatory gutter, since that is the item that turns a cleaning job into a leak.
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Edgbaston · Conservatory Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In Edgbaston, orangeries and lanterns make up most of the glazed rooms. The difference in practice is the flat roof. The glazed lantern is cleaned much like conservatory glazing, but the flat area around it holds leaf litter and grit that will not shift on its own, and the outlet in it has to be cleared or the whole thing ponds. We treat the two as one job because leaving half of it makes very little sense.
No, on any of it. High pressure scratches polycarbonate, drives water past seals and upstand flashings that are already years old, and can crack a tired glazing bar. It is a common cause of leaks after a clean. We apply a solution at low pressure, let it break the growth down chemically, and rinse with pure water.
Yes, but only with pure water and a soft brush, and it is important you tell us at the quote stage. The coating on self-cleaning glass is a thin surface layer, and an abrasive pad or an aggressive solution takes it off permanently, at which point the glass performs worse than ordinary glazing would. Once the coating is gone, nothing brings it back.
By soft-washing and staying off the fabric. Method matters most on a listed building or an original glasshouse, where abrasive cleaning of historic timber, putty or ironwork causes damage that cannot be undone. We are happy to set out what we intend to do in writing if a conservation officer or an estate manager wants to see it.
Yes, on the later houses and the newer developments, though the older estate houses more often have orangeries and garden rooms. Whichever you have, we are glad to quote it, and the method is set by the roof you have.
Other cleaning we do in Edgbaston
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