Roof Cleaning & PropertyMaintenance in KirkwallPlanned Properly

Orkney's climate is persistently damp rather than severely cold, which is the best possible combination for moss, lichen and algae. Surfaces rarely dry out fully for long, so growth establishes quickly and returns steadily after cleaning.

On a roof, that growth holds water against the covering, lifts slates and tiles at the edges and blocks the gutters below. On a wall it holds moisture against the finish. Neither is cosmetic once it has been left long enough.

The older parts of Kirkwall include buildings using traditional flagstone, lime and harl construction, designed to let moisture move through the fabric rather than be sealed in.

Those buildings are damaged by exactly the two things people reach for first: high-pressure washing and impermeable coatings. We clean them at low pressure and we do not seal a wall that needs to breathe.

Older Kirkwall buildings often have long gutter runs, hoppers and shared downpipes, sometimes in awkward positions between buildings. When they block, water tracks down a wall or into a junction between properties, and the damage is shared.

Clearing them is straightforward; the value is in also checking falls, joints and fixings while up there, because a clear gutter with a failed joint still puts water where you do not want it.

Buildings that have been standing for a century or more have usually been wet at some point. Wood-boring beetle and decay follow damp, and both progress out of sight in floor voids, roof spaces and behind linings.

The sequence that works is always the same: find and stop the water, establish whether an infestation is active, treat the affected timber, then repair or replace what has been weakened. Anything else is temporary.