Free gutter clearance and free biocide on every Nailsworth roof clean. Fragile Cotswold stone slate and conservation-area roofs handled by hand, never pressure-washed.
Nailsworth sits in the bottom of a W — the point where the Avening valley and the Woodchester valley meet and pour together into the Nailsworth Stream. Those are steep, wooded, north-and-east-shaded Cotswold valleys, and they do two things to a roof. They trap moisture, so the air down in the valley bottom sits damp for far longer than it does up on open ground; and they shade the lower pitches for much of the day, so the sun never quite dries a roof out. It's the same geography that powered the town — fourteen-odd cloth and brewing mills strung along the brooks that feed the stream — and it's the same geography that feeds moss, lichen and algae onto the slates above them.
You see it most clearly when you compare two houses a few hundred yards apart. A roof down by the stream in the old mill core, or one of the cottages tucked under the tree-line on the valley sides at Watledge or Newmarket, will carry a thick, wet mat of moss on its north slope while a house up on the exposed hilltops above — out towards Forest Green and the New Lawn — stays relatively clear. The wooded, damp valley bottom is the moss's natural home, and Nailsworth has more of that terrain than almost any town its size in the county.
The roofs themselves make it worse, not better. The historic core is Cotswold stone slate and old Welsh slate — porous, hand-laid, and exactly the kind of surface that holds water in the laps and gives spores something to root into. Those slates are also fragile, which rules out the quick, brutal answer of blasting them with a pressure washer: force water into porous stone slate and you split laps, lift slates and drive damp into a building that has stayed sound for two centuries by shedding water cleanly. The right answer here is the slow one — lift the moss off by hand, soft-wash, and treat with biocide so the regrowth doesn't come straight back.
Out on the fringes it's a different roof but the same valley. The newer housing around Forest Green and the estate edges runs to concrete interlocking tile, which is tougher than stone slate but textured enough that spores grip it, and up on the exposed hilltops the wind and weather come at it hard. Whether it's a listed mill conversion in the conservation area or a 1980s semi on the hill, the cause is the same Nailsworth-valley damp, and so is the fix: get the growth off properly, then treat the surface so it stays off.
One thing that's specific to Nailsworth is how varied a single short street can be. The town climbs out of the valley bottom on steep lanes, so within one row you can have a tall stone mill cottage, a Victorian villa and a more recent infill, each at a slightly different height, angle and exposure, each greening at a different rate. That's why we survey every roof properly rather than quoting a number down the phone — a roof we can see from the road tells us almost nothing about the pitch tucked behind it in the shade.
Each one has its own approach. On porous stone slate, method matters far more than equipment.
The defining Nailsworth roof — hand-laid, porous limestone slate, graded large at the eaves and small at the ridge, on the older stone buildings down through the conservation area and the valley bottom. Soft and fragile when wet, it must never be pressured. We hand-scrape the laps from a roof ladder, soft-wash, and treat with biocide, taking extra care around the bedded ridges and old valley metal.
Common on the later villas and the chapels-turned-homes that went up as the town grew — thin, smooth Welsh slate that's durable but unforgiving. It gets hand-clearing of the laps, a low-pressure rinse and a neutral biocide. We keep everything off the lime mortar and old leadwork, and flag any cracked or slipped slates we spot on the way.
Plenty of the older Nailsworth cottages and former workshops carry hand-made clay tile, often a century or more old and brittle when damp. These are scraped by hand, never pressured, working off a roof ladder hooked over the ridge — and given the same biocide treatment to stop the moss coming straight back in this shaded valley.
The newer housing up around Forest Green and the estate edges runs to Marley and Redland concrete tile. Tougher than stone slate, but the textured surface grips spores and the exposed hilltops get hammered by weather, so they mat up too. We lift the moss by hand first, then biocide — expect a colour shift as the treatment cures over a few weeks.
From the mill-town core in the valley bottom to the hamlets on the slopes and the hilltop estates — same valley damp, a slightly different roof on each.
The mill-town core in the valley bottom where the Avening and Woodchester valleys meet — tight, shaded streets of Cotswold stone-slate and Welsh-slate roofs, much of it listed or inside the conservation area, all of it hand-scrape only.
Up on the exposed hilltop above the town, home to Forest Green Rovers and The New Lawn — a mix of older stone and more recent concrete-tile housing that takes the weather hard, and greens despite the height because the air off the valleys is always damp.
A long-settled hamlet on the southern side, with its historic Baptist chapel and a mix of stone cottages and later housing on the slopes — north-facing pitches here hold moss well into spring.
Clinging to the steep valley side on the Minchinhampton edge, below the famously steep Nailsworth Ladder — old stone cottages on tight, shaded plots where the tree-line keeps the roofs damp and the moss thick.
The hamlets strung along the valley lanes to the south and east — stone-slate and Welsh-slate cottages on steep ground, exactly the shaded, wooded setting that brings moss back fastest if it isn't treated.
The surrounding villages that share Nailsworth's valleys and its stone — period stone roofs and converted mills on damp, sheltered ground, all handled with the same hand-scrape-and-biocide method.
Nailsworth was designated a conservation area in 1989, with the boundary extended in 1992 and amended since, and it's easy to see why: the town is a near-complete mill-town landscape, its stone buildings packed into the valley bottom and climbing the slopes, strung along the Nailsworth Stream where the cloth and brewing trade once ran. A great many of those roofs are original Cotswold stone slate or old Welsh slate sitting on old timber and stone structures, and they need a completely different hand to a 1980s semi up on the hill. On these we hand-scrape only, never pressure, because force cracks porous stone slate and drives water into a building that has stood for centuries by staying watertight.
For listed buildings — and the old mills, the chapels and a good many of the cottages are listed — cleaning sits in a careful zone. Straightforward removal of biological growth normally doesn't need listed-building consent, because you're not altering the fabric of the building. Anything that touches mortar, lead or the original stone-slate fixing usually does — and we'll tell you upfront if a job crosses that line so you can speak to Stroud District Council's conservation team before booking. We keep biocide off lime mortar by sheeting and rinsing the edges, and where old lead flashings have weathered to a soft grey patina we'll usually recommend leaving them rather than scrubbing them back to bright metal, which is exactly the kind of thing heritage officers, reasonably, don't want to see.
It's worth remembering why Nailsworth looks the way it does. It grew up not as a planned market town but as a working mill village — or rather a cluster of them, drawing in the edges of three older parishes, Avening, Horsley and Minchinhampton, before it became a parish in its own right. The mills powered by the stream brought wealth, and with it the stone villas, the great dissenting chapels — the Town Hall itself was built as a chapel and finished in 1867 — and Shortwood's Baptist meeting house. The result is a town where buildings of very different ages and uses lean together on steep ground, roofs run at odd angles into shared valleys, and a single terrace can carry stone slate, Welsh slate and clay all at once. None of that is a problem to clean — but it's exactly why we survey each property properly rather than quoting a roof we haven't seen.
At quote stage we check whether your property looks listed and glance at the Historic England map before the survey. It costs us five minutes and can save you a planning headache.
We come out, look at the roof, the access on these steep valley lanes, and the gutters, and tell you exactly what's needed and what it costs. No hard sell, no pressure to book on the spot — and on the stone-slate and listed properties in the conservation area we flag anything that touches listed-building rules first.
Heavy moss is removed by hand from a ladder or tower, gutters cleared at the same time. On Nailsworth's fragile Cotswold stone slate and Welsh slate, the bulk growth is lifted off by hand — never blasted — so the surface is cleared without ever forcing water into the porous laps.
An approved biocide is applied at the correct dilution. It kills algae, lichen and remaining moss spores at the root, without high-pressure water touching the slates — which matters even more in these shaded, wooded valleys where regrowth comes back fast.
The biocide keeps working after we've left, preventing regrowth for up to two years. Most customers don't need us back for a top-up before then, even down in the damp valley bottom.
A Nailsworth roof clean keeps us on the ladders or tower most of the day regardless, so it makes sense to pull the gutters through while we're up there — and the biocide is what holds the result for two years, which counts for a lot in valleys this damp and shaded. You pay for neither; both come as standard.
The free gutter clear is more than a nicety on these steep plots. A gutter packed with washed-down moss and grit is the difference between rain running cleanly away down the valley and rain spilling down a stone wall, soaking into the lime and finding its way to the eaves — and on an old stone building that's how damp problems start. We clear what comes off the roof as we go, so you're not left with a clean roof and blocked gutters. And because the biocide carries on working long after we've packed up, most Nailsworth customers get two seasons or more before they'd even think about booking us back — in a microclimate this damp, that's the part that earns its keep.
Get my Nailsworth quoteNailsworth throws up everything from fragile hand-laid Cotswold stone slate on listed cottages in the valley bottom to big concrete-tile roofs up on the Forest Green fringes, and the fragile ones take careful hand-scraping rather than fast pressure — which is part of why we won't quote a flat rate over the phone. Every roof's different. But to be straight with you, most roof cleans are £550–£950. A standard terrace or semi sits in that range; larger, steeper or more difficult roofs (heavy moss, awkward valley-lane access, big stone houses or mill conversions) go up from there.
What moves the price:
Always included, never an add-on: a free gutter clear while we're up there, and the biocide that keeps moss off for up to two years.
How we quote: a free no-obligation survey, a written price the same day, no deposit, pay only when it's done. See our full roof cleaning cost guide →
Not the way we do it. The porous Cotswold stone slate and old Welsh slate you find through the conservation-area core and on the converted mills must never be pressure-washed — the surface is soft and the laps split if you force water into them. On those roofs we hand-scrape the moss off and soft-wash only, then treat with biocide. The newer concrete interlocking tile on the Forest Green and valley-fringe estates is tougher, but even there it's the biocide that stops the moss returning, not the force of the water. We tell you the method for your roof before we start.
Up to two years, often longer, because the biocide carries on killing fresh spores after we've left. Nailsworth is a damp town by nature — it sits where the Avening and Woodchester valleys meet on the Nailsworth Stream, in steep wooded valleys that trap moisture and shade. North-facing pitches and roofs tucked under the tree-line green up fastest. Pressure-washing on its own buys you about a season; the moss is back the next autumn because the spores are still in the slate. The biocide is the difference between cleaning the surface and treating the cause.
Yes, when applied properly. We use approved biocides at manufacturer-specified dilutions, applied in dry conditions so the active ingredient bonds to the slate rather than running off. Pets are kept indoors during application and for an hour after; planted borders are sheeted and watered down before and after. In a green valley town like Nailsworth — gardens running down to the stream, woodland on the slopes above — we're careful about run-off, and we've never had an issue with watercourses or wildlife in years of doing this.
Yes, and this is exactly the work we take most care over. Nailsworth was designated a conservation area in 1989 and extended in 1992, and the old mill-town core is full of listed Cotswold stone-slate and Welsh-slate roofs on fragile structures. On those we hand-scrape only — never pressure — and we keep biocide off lime mortar and old leadwork by sheeting and rinsing the edges. Straightforward removal of moss and algae usually doesn't need listed-building consent because you're not altering the fabric; anything touching mortar, lead or the original stone-slate fixings does, and we'll flag it before we start so you can speak to Stroud District Council's conservation team first.
The valleys. Nailsworth sits in the W-shaped confluence where the Avening valley and the Woodchester valley join on the Nailsworth Stream — steep, wooded, shaded slopes that trap moisture and hold the damp in. That's the same geography that powered the town's fourteen-odd cloth and brewing mills, and it's the same geography that feeds moss, lichen and algae. A roof down in the valley bottom or tucked under the tree-line carries far heavier growth than an exposed roof up on the hilltops. It doesn't change how we clean, but it's why the free biocide treatment earns its keep here — without it the regrowth comes back fast in this microclimate.
For most jobs, no. We work from a ladder or scaffold tower with a long-reach lance, which means no concentrated weight on the slates and no boot scuffs on the ridges. On the steeper, older roofs — and Nailsworth has plenty, from the tall mill conversions to the cottages clinging to the valley sides above Watledge and Newmarket — we use a roof ladder hooked over the ridge to spread the load safely across the fragile stone slate. We'll tell you in advance which method we're using on your property and why.
Three reasons that matter, in order. Slate and tile life — moss holds moisture against the surface, accelerating freeze-thaw damage and shortening the life of the roof, which on hand-made Cotswold stone slate in the conservation area is a serious replacement cost. Gutters and downpipes — moss sheds and washes into the gutters, blocking them and pushing water down the wall instead of away from the house, which matters on the older stone buildings down in the damp valley bottom. Insurance and resale — some insurers query roofs visibly covered in growth, and a clean roof is a quiet but real factor in kerb appeal, especially for the character stone properties buyers pay a premium for around here. Cleaning costs a fraction of re-slating or repointing ridges.
No roof stays clear forever — spores are always airborne, and in a wooded, damp valley town like Nailsworth they're never far away — but treating the cause keeps it clear for years not months: we scrape or soft-wash the moss off, then apply a biocide that carries on killing spores for up to two years. Pressure-washing alone just removes what you can see — it's back next autumn, and on porous stone slate it does real harm in the process. Biocide is the longest-lasting answer.
Yes. Nailsworth grew up around its mills — Egypt Mill and the rest strung along the Nailsworth Stream — and a lot of them are now homes, offices or apartments with large, steep stone-slate and Welsh-slate roofs. Those need a survey first: access, the state of the old valley metal and leadwork, and whether the building's listed. We work off towers and roof ladders, hand-scrape the laps, soft-wash and treat with biocide, and keep everything off the lime mortar. Send the postcode and we'll come and look before quoting.
Spring (March–May) and early autumn are ideal — dry enough for the biocide to bond, and it sets the roof up before the damp months when moss grows fastest, which in these shaded valleys is most of the winter. We clean year-round, though; the biocide works whenever it's applied in dry conditions.
The valley town just up the road — five steep wooded valleys, stone-slate and Welsh-slate roofs, heavy moss country.
Roof cleaning StroudThe "Queen of the Cotswolds" — honey-stone cottages and stone-slate roofs on the hills north of Stroud.
Roof cleaning PainswickCapital of the Cotswolds — listed stone town houses, conservation streets and post-war estates.
Roof cleaning CirencesterThe Guys did a fantastic job on my roof and worked nonstop all day to get the job done and left everything clean and tidy after themselves, highly recommend and would look to use again 👍, made a massive difference to the house.
The Guys did a fantastic job on my roof and worked nonstop all day to get the job done and left everything clean and tidy after themselves, highly recommend and would look to use again 👍, made a massive difference to the house.
Would strongly recommend. Swift with good work quality and kept the surrounding areas tidy. Looks like a new roof! Would 100% recommend.
Would strongly recommend. Swift with good work quality and kept the surrounding areas tidy. Looks like a new roof! Would 100% recommend.
Blake and Daniel cleaned my patio and path at the front and did a great job. They were friendly and professional and explained well what they were going to do. I also had a bad dark patch which came up really well which others had failed to remove. I would definitely recommend them if like me you have a patio or driveway that badly needs a thorough clean
Blake and Daniel cleaned my patio and path at the front and did a great job. They were friendly and professional and explained well what they were going to do. I also had a bad dark patch which came up really well which others had failed to remove. I would definitely recommend them if like me you have a patio or driveway that badly needs a thorough clean
100% recommend this team . From start to finish was kept informed.On the morning a text to say what time they will be there and arrived on time . Worked from 9:30 till 7:30pm on the roof and jet washing all the area after. Very professional and had all the kit even a drone to show you the results of the whole area . The difference is amazing and looks like a new roof . Really happy with the results and so many comments from neighbours too saying how good it looks . You will not be disappointed .
100% recommend this team . From start to finish was kept informed.On the morning a text to say what time they will be there and arrived on time . Worked from 9:30 till 7:30pm on the roof and jet washing all the area after. Very professional and had all the kit even a drone to show you the results of the whole area . The difference is amazing and looks like a new roof . Really happy with the results and so many comments from neighbours too saying how good it looks . You will not be disappointed .
Had our drive re sealed and repaired amazing job by Blake and Dan thanks very much for your hard work it looks amazing highly recommended company
Had our drive re sealed and repaired amazing job by Blake and Dan thanks very much for your hard work it looks amazing highly recommended company
What can I say other than WOW !! Massive thank you to Blake and Dan for all of your hard work, so professional and such an amazing job! Left everything spotless so pleased, highly recommend to everyone. Extremely happy
What can I say other than WOW !! Massive thank you to Blake and Dan for all of your hard work, so professional and such an amazing job! Left everything spotless so pleased, highly recommend to everyone. Extremely happy
Blake and team did a great job of cleaning and resealing our roof. They worked hard and communicated well by proactively keeping us updated at every stage. We are happy with the end result and the transformation was epic!
Blake and team did a great job of cleaning and resealing our roof. They worked hard and communicated well by proactively keeping us updated at every stage. We are happy with the end result and the transformation was epic!
We had excellent service from start to finish. The guys were very professional, discussed everything over the phone initially then a visit with the drone to allow accurate quarter and expectation management. On the day they were considerate with the neighbours, did a wonderful job with the roof and gutters and cleared up so well that everything looked far better than when they started. Cannot recommend more highly.
We had excellent service from start to finish. The guys were very professional, discussed everything over the phone initially then a visit with the drone to allow accurate quarter and expectation management. On the day they were considerate with the neighbours, did a wonderful job with the roof and gutters and cleared up so well that everything looked far better than when they started. Cannot recommend more highly.
Great guys. Amazing job on the drive and always answers the phone. Recommend 100%
Great guys. Amazing job on the drive and always answers the phone. Recommend 100%
Really impressed with Aquapro Roof cleaning. Very professional guys that done such a good job, that it looks like I’ve had a new roof installed, (after 40yrs of dirt and moss). Blake talked me through everything in detail, and answered any questions I had. Showed me the end result with his drone footage and left house clean and tidy. Highly recommended.
Really impressed with Aquapro Roof cleaning. Very professional guys that done such a good job, that it looks like I’ve had a new roof installed, (after 40yrs of dirt and moss). Blake talked me through everything in detail, and answered any questions I had. Showed me the end result with his drone footage and left house clean and tidy. Highly recommended.
Great service, lovely & friendly team. So happy with the patio.
Great service, lovely & friendly team. So happy with the patio.
Free gutter clean and biocide treatment with every roof clean. Fragile Cotswold stone slate and conservation-area roofs handled by hand, never pressure-washed. Fully insured, no-obligation quote, written the same day.
