Rubery Conservatory Roof Cleaning for the Weather-Side Pitch
Rubery has a great many added conservatories, and the reason is straightforward: 1960s and 70s houses on generous plots with a rear garden and no planning obstacle worth mentioning, so extensions went up in quantity from the late 1980s through to the 2000s. Most of them are now twenty-five to thirty-five years old, most have a polycarbonate roof, and a good proportion have never had anything done to the roof at all since the day it was fitted.
What sets them apart from conservatories in the leafier suburbs is the pattern of soiling. There is no heavy tree canopy over most of Rubery, so we are not dealing with sap and leaf tannin baked over the top of the algae. What happens instead is a pitch that faces into the weather off the Lickeys, staying wet for hours after every westerly, and going green far ahead of the sheltered side of the same roof.
- Service
- Conservatory Cleaning
- Area covered
- Rubery, B45
- Local authority
- Birmingham and Bromsgrove
- 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 (common questions)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
Reading the wind off a Rubery conservatory roof
You can usually read the wind off a Rubery conservatory roof. The windward pitch carries a thick green film while the pitch in the lee of the house may be barely marked, and that lopsided result makes the whole thing look neglected from the garden. Underneath that, the age of the glazing is the real issue: polycarbonate of this vintage has a soft coating that has weathered, so algae keys into it more readily every year that passes. Then there is the run of gutter along the front edge, sitting lower than the house guttering and directly under whatever comes off the main roof, and almost nobody thinks to clear it.
- A windward pitch that stays wet after every westerly off the Lickeys and greens first
- Polycarbonate fitted between the late 1980s and the 2000s, now weathered and holding algae more readily
- Little tree cover, so this is straight algae rather than sap and tannin layered on top
- Conservatory guttering below the house run, catching its overflow and blocking early
- Glazing bars and finials on Victorian-style roofs, where green collects in every joint
Low pressure and dwell time on thirty-year-old seals
Low pressure throughout, whether the roof is polycarbonate or glass, with chemistry doing the work. The solution is applied to the roof, left long enough to loosen the algae, then taken off with a pure water rinse. High pressure scratches polycarbonate, drives water behind seals with thirty years on them and can crack an ageing glazing bar, and none of those is worth the few minutes it saves. Frames, bars, finials and seals get a hand clean, and perished rubber is reported to you, never patched over. The conservatory gutter is emptied and flushed on the same visit.
- Chemistry and dwell time rather than pressure, on roofs where the seals are three decades old
- A second application on the weather-facing pitch where it has gone green for years, priced up front
- Frames, glazing bars, finials and seals done by hand, with perished rubber reported to you
- Conservatory guttering emptied and flushed inside the price, since it fills first
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: conservatory cleaning across Birmingham.
Where the B45 conservatories are
They are all over B45. The rear gardens off New Road, the streets climbing towards the Lickeys and the houses on the higher Bromsgrove side all took them in quantity, and the higher and more open the plot, the more one-sided the roof looks. Spring is the time to book, so the room is bright before summer. Access is easy: a side gate, a drive to set up on, and no need for anyone to be at home once we can get to the back.
What an exposed weather-side pitch adds to the work
Size, roof material and the number of years since it was last touched decide it. A lean-to that gets done annually is quick. A large conservatory on an exposed plot with a weather-side pitch green for the best part of a decade takes considerably longer and will very likely need the solution applying twice, so photographs beforehand save us both a wasted trip. One limit is worth hearing before any money changes hands. Polycarbonate gone yellow is UV damaged right through the sheet, so washing takes the green off and leaves the yellow exactly where it was.
Once a year, with extra attention on the weather side
Once a year holds most Rubery conservatories, which is a lighter cycle than the tree-covered suburbs need, because nothing is layering sap and tannin over the algae. The exception is the weather-facing pitch on a fully exposed plot, and if yours is the roof that looks green again by autumn it is worth a second visit for that side alone. The conservatory gutter wants the shorter interval whatever the roof looks like, since it overflows well before the panels start to show.
Charles was great. He was very professional and did a great job.
Absolutely brilliant service. Adefem was professional, job well done. Everything was left beautifully clean, and I was genuinely impressed.
I’m very satisfied with the service I get
Rubery · Conservatory Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
Because one side takes the weather and the other does not. Rubery sits high and open below the Lickeys, so the pitch facing the wind-driven rain stays wet for hours after each front comes through, and algae grows where it stays damp longest. The lee side often needs very little doing, though we clean both so the roof matches.
Yes, and this is the single thing we would want you to take away. High pressure scratches the surface of polycarbonate, which then holds algae worse than before, and it drives water behind seals that have already done thirty years. We use low pressure and a cleaning solution with dwell time on every roof, regardless of how bad it looks.
Some of it. On an exposed B45 plot the weather side takes the driven rain and the algae, and all of that washes off. If the polycarbonate on that pitch has also had thirty years of sun, part of the brown may be the sheet itself yellowing, and no cleaning moves that. The sheltered pitch makes a useful comparison: once both are clean, any difference left between them is in the panels. New sheeting is work for a glazing fitter.
Yes, inside the price, never as an extra. It hangs below the main guttering and catches its overflow, so in this stock it fills first and then spills onto the frame and whatever is planted underneath. Washing the panels and leaving that full would be a half-done job.
Yes. Once we can reach the back through a side gate, nobody needs to be at home, and in B45 a slot within the week is usually possible. We leave a note of anything we found, such as a perished seal, with photographs.
Other cleaning we do in Rubery
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