Free gutter clearance and free biocide on every Painswick roof clean. Honey-stone, listed and conservation-area cottages in the Queen of the Cotswolds handled correctly.
Painswick is the village they call the Queen of the Cotswolds, and it earns the name on the strength of one thing above all: the honey-coloured stone. It grew rich on the medieval wool and cloth trade — the clothiers quarried the local oolitic limestone straight out of the hills and built their houses long and tall along the tight streets that thread up the hillside. The result is a settlement packed with 17th and 18th-century weavers' cottages and clothiers' houses, more than 380 of them listed, almost all roofed in traditional Cotswold stone slate. It is one of the most complete stone villages in England. It is also, for exactly those reasons, a roof that greens up badly.
The location does most of the damage. Painswick clings to the steep western escarpment of the Cotswolds, perched on the slopes above the valley of the Painswick stream and looking out over the Five Valleys toward the Severn Vale. The ground keeps climbing behind the village to Painswick Beacon, an Iron Age hill fort at over 280 metres with its wide views across the vale. Damp valley air rises up those slopes and hangs over the village, the high, exposed ground holds cloud and shade, and the tall stone houses in the narrow streets shade each other for much of the day. Moss, lichen and gloeocapsa algae live on precisely that — cold, damp and shade — so a Painswick roof carries noticeably heavier growth than an identical house out on lower, drier, sunnier ground.
Then there's the material. Genuine Cotswold stone slate is porous, textured and laid in graded courses, hundreds of small limestone slates to a roof with deep laps that hold damp and give spores plenty to grip. Old hand-made clay does the same. Unlike a smooth modern tile, these surfaces never really dry out on a shaded, north-facing pitch, so once moss takes hold it mats into the laps and stays there. By the time someone calls us, a north slope above Bisley Street or Tibbiwell is usually a thick green-black mat sitting in the stone, with lichen crusting the ridges and gutters packed with washed-down growth.
This is why method matters more here than almost anywhere we work. You cannot pressure-wash a Cotswold stone-slate roof — the force splits the porous slates, strips the surface and drives water under the laps, and a cracked stone slate has to be replaced with a reclaimed one to match, at serious cost. So on Painswick's heritage roofs we remove the moss by hand, working off a roof ladder that spreads the load, then treat with biocide — and we never put a coating or sealant on natural stone slate. It is slower than blasting a modern tile, but it is the only way to clean a stone roof without taking years off its life.
Not every roof in the parish is heritage stone, mind. Around the edges of the village and on the newer infill you'll find modern concrete interlocking tile on later houses, and out in the hamlets there's a mix of stone, clay and the odd modern roof. Those are a different job — they can take a more robust clean where it suits — but in this damp, shaded escarpment microclimate they green up too, and they get the same bulk-removal-then-biocide treatment so the result actually lasts. Whether it's a 17th-century weaver's cottage on Vicarage Street or a 1990s house on the approach roads, the cause is the same hillside damp, and so is the cure.
Each one has its own approach. On a village this old and this heavily listed, method matters far more than equipment.
The roof that makes Painswick look like Painswick — graded courses of porous limestone slate on the 17th and 18th-century weavers' cottages and clothiers' houses along Bisley Street, Friday Street, Tibbiwell and New Street. Brittle, irreplaceable except with reclaimed stone, and never to be pressured or coated. These are hand-cleared of moss off a roof ladder, with biocide kept off the lime mortar and old leadwork.
Found on some cottages, outbuildings and later additions across the village and out toward the hamlets. Often a century or more old and fragile when wet — scraped by hand, never pressured, with extra care around the bedded ridges, hips and valleys where the tiles are oldest and most likely to crack.
On some of the 19th-century properties, chapels and later cottages in the parish. Durable but unforgiving — slate gets hand-clearing of the laps, a low-pressure rinse where appropriate and a neutral biocide. We keep everything off old lead flashings and weathered ridge mortar, which heritage roofs rely on to stay watertight up on this exposed hillside.
On the newer houses and infill around the approach roads and out toward Stroud — Marley and Redland interlocking tiles. The textured surface grips spores and the escarpment damp keeps everything wet, so they mat up heavily. We remove the moss by hand first, then biocide, with a sealant on the right surfaces — never on natural stone — to slow regrowth further.
From the honey-stone heart of the village out to the surrounding GL6 hamlets in the parish — same escarpment damp, slightly different roof on each.
The early-14th-century street that was once the main route between Gloucester and Bisley, holding some of the oldest buildings in the village — tall, shaded stone houses on traditional Cotswold stone slate, much of it listed and on medieval burgage plots, all of it hand-scrape only.
The streets around the old market square and St Mary's church, infilled with cottages from the 17th century — dense honey-stone frontages where shaded north pitches and porous stone slate mean heavy moss and a careful, slow hand-clean.
Tibbiwell drops steeply south-east toward the old wells below the village, and New Street runs past the churchyard — steep gables, tight access and original stone slate that has to be reached off a roof ladder rather than walked on.
The streets where the weavers and cloth workers once lived, lined with renovated 17th and 19th-century cottages — small, close-set roofs in stone and clay that green up fast in the shade and take the standard hand-removal-then-biocide treatment well.
The valley hamlets in the parish — Sheepscombe strung along its brook, Slad of Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie, and Edge on the western slopes. Small, shaded stone-slate and clay cottages, often holiday lets and second homes, where moss takes hold quickly in the cold, damp valley air.
The wooded eastern edge of the parish toward Cranham and Paradise, and the houses up by Painswick Beacon — exposed, tree-shaded and high, the same mix of heritage stone and later roofs we cover right across the Painswick area.
Painswick has been a conservation area since December 1977, extended south-west in June 1990, and the village is one of the most densely listed in the whole of the Cotswolds — more than 380 listed buildings, the great majority in golden Cotswold stone. The entire point of the place, the reason it is called the Queen of the Cotswolds, is that unbroken run of 17th and 18th-century weavers' cottages and clothiers' houses with their stone-slate roofs, tied together by the church spire of St Mary's. A great many of those roofs sit on listed buildings, from the Grade I medieval church itself down to whole terraces along Bisley Street, Friday Street, Vicarage Street and Tibbiwell. They need a completely different hand to a modern tile, because force cracks old stone slate and drives water into a structure that has stayed watertight for centuries precisely because nobody blasted it.
For listed buildings, 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 the lime mortar, the lead, or the original stone-slate fixings 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, we never apply a coating or sealant to natural stone slate, 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 Painswick looks the way it does. The town was recorded in the Domesday Book and grew rich on the medieval cloth trade — the sheep grazed the Cotswold tops, the clothiers quarried the honey-coloured limestone out of the same hills, and the wool was hauled up from the mills by packhorse. You can still see the studded "donkey doors" on the old burgage plots, worn by centuries of laden packhorses passing through to the sheds behind. That history is the asset: it's why a clean, honest stone-slate roof matters so much to a property's value here, and why a green, streaked one stands out for all the wrong reasons.
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 — and on a Cotswold stone roof, getting the method right the first time is the difference between a clean that lasts and a repair bill in reclaimed slate.
We come out, look at the roof, the access 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 older stone-slate and listed cottages we flag anything that touches listed-building or conservation rules first.
Heavy moss is removed by hand from a ladder, tower or roof ladder, gutters cleared at the same time. On Painswick's porous Cotswold stone slate and fragile old clay, the bulk growth has to be lifted off by hand — never blasted — before the biocide can reach the spores beneath.
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 this cold, shaded, escarpment-damp microclimate 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.
A Painswick roof clean keeps us on the ladders most of the day regardless — heritage stone slate is slow, careful work — 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 on a hillside this damp and shaded. You pay for neither; both come as standard.
The free gutter clear is more than a nicety here. On an old stone cottage, a gutter packed with washed-down moss and grit pushes rain down the wall instead of away from the house, and damp working into the fabric of a porous limestone building is exactly what you don't want on the steep valley sides above the Painswick stream. 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 Painswick customers get two seasons or more before they'd even think about booking us back — in a microclimate this cold and shaded, that's the part that earns its keep.
Get my Painswick quotePainswick throws up everything from irreplaceable Cotswold stone slate on listed Bisley Street cottages to modern tile on the village edge, and the heritage roofs take slow, careful hand-work 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 cottage or semi sits in that range; larger, steeper or more delicate roofs (graded stone slate, heavy moss, awkward hillside access, big detached houses) 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 →
No — but only because we never put high pressure near it. The traditional Cotswold stone slate on the honey-stone cottages along Bisley Street, Friday Street, Tibbiwell and New Street is porous limestone, brittle, and often three or four centuries old. Pressure-washing it splits the slates, blasts the surface off the stone and forces water under the laps — and a cracked stone slate has to be replaced with a reclaimed one to match. On those roofs we hand-remove the moss working off a roof ladder, then apply biocide — never a lance turned up high. The newer concrete tile on the houses around the village edge can take a more robust approach where it suits, but it's the biocide that stops the regrowth either way, not the force of the water.
Up to two years, often longer, because the biocide carries on killing fresh spores after we've left. Painswick is a hard spot for moss — the village sits high on the western edge of the Cotswold escarpment overlooking the Five Valleys, so damp valley air rises up the slopes and the steep, shaded north pitches barely see direct sun. North-facing stone-slate roofs in the tight old streets colour up far faster than open south-facing ones. Pressure-washing on its own buys you about a season; the moss is back the next autumn because the spores are still in the porous stone. 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 roof rather than running off. Pets are kept indoors during application and for an hour after; planted borders and the cottage gardens around the village are sheeted and watered down before and after. On the steep valley sides above the Painswick stream, where gardens run straight into open Cotswold countryside and grazing land, we're careful about run-off, and we've never had an issue with ponds, wildlife or stock in years of doing this.
Yes, and this is the work we take most care over. Painswick has been a conservation area since December 1977 and the village is one of the most densely listed in the Cotswolds, with more than 380 listed buildings — from the Grade I medieval church of St Mary's down to whole runs of 17th and 18th-century weavers' cottages along Bisley Street, Vicarage Street and Tibbiwell. On those roofs we hand-scrape only — never pressure — and we keep biocide off the lime mortar, the old leadwork and the original stone slate by sheeting and rinsing the edges. We never apply a coating or sealant to natural stone slate. 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 slate fixings does, and we'll flag it before we start so you can speak to Stroud District Council's conservation team first.
Two reasons, and they stack. First the location: Painswick clings to the steep western escarpment of the Cotswolds above the Five Valleys, on slopes that rise toward Painswick Beacon at over 280 metres. Damp air drifts up off the valley of the Painswick stream and the Severn Vale below, the high ground holds cloud and shade, and the tall stone houses in the tight old streets shade each other for much of the day — which is exactly what moss, lichen and algae feed on. Second the materials: genuine Cotswold stone slate and old clay are porous and laid in deep, textured courses, so they hold damp and give spores plenty to grip. Put a porous heritage roof on a cold, shaded, exposed hillside and it greens up faster than almost anywhere — which is why the free biocide treatment earns its keep here.
On Painswick's stone-slate and old clay roofs we avoid standing on the covering wherever we can — those graded stone slates crack underfoot and the oldest ones are irreplaceable except with reclaimed stone. We work from a ladder or scaffold tower with a long-reach lance, and where we do need to get onto the pitch we use a roof ladder hooked over the ridge to spread the load and keep weight off the individual slates. On the steep, tall gables common on the older High Street and Tibbiwell cottages — many of them on medieval burgage plots — that careful approach matters even more. We'll tell you in advance which method we're using on your property and why.
Yes, and a fair bit of our Painswick work is exactly this — holiday lets, second homes and B&Bs where the owner isn't always on site. In a village people travel to for its honey-stone looks, a green, streaked roof costs you bookings, so kerb appeal is the whole point. We can quote from photos and a survey, work between changeovers or while the property is empty, and deal with you remotely if you're not local. Send the postcode and a couple of photos and we'll take it from there.
Three reasons that matter, in order. Slate and tile life — moss holds moisture against the surface, accelerating freeze-thaw damage, and on genuine Cotswold stone slate or hand-made clay that replacement cost is serious money and usually needs reclaimed materials to match. 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 on a porous old stone cottage means damp working into the fabric. Value and kerb appeal — in the Queen of the Cotswolds, where buyers and holiday guests pay a premium for the honey-stone look, a green, streaked roof drags the whole property down. Cleaning costs a fraction of replacing slates or repointing ridges.
On traditional Cotswold stone slate and old clay — the roofs on most of Painswick's listed and conservation-area cottages — absolutely not. High pressure splits the porous slates, strips the surface and drives water underneath, and once a stone slate cracks you're into reclaimed-slate territory to repair it. Those roofs get hand-removal and biocide only, and never a coating. The newer concrete tile on the houses around the edge of the village can take a controlled, more robust wash where it's the right tool. We always tell you the method first and we never pressure-blast heritage stone.
Spring (March–May) and early autumn are ideal — dry enough for the biocide to bond, and it sets the roof up before the cold, damp months when moss grows fastest, which up on this exposed escarpment is a long season. We clean year-round, though; the biocide works whenever it's applied in dry conditions, and we plan jobs around weather windows rather than rushing them in the wet, which matters a great deal on a steep hillside village like Painswick.
The Five Valleys mill town just down the hill — stone, clay and modern tile on steep, damp valley sides.
Roof cleaning StroudA wooded valley town south of Stroud — Cotswold-stone cottages and later housing on shaded slopes.
Roof cleaning NailsworthVictorian terraces, the docks regeneration and post-war estates, out across the Severn Vale below.
Roof cleaning GloucesterThe 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. Cotswold stone slate, listed and conservation-area cottages handled correctly — by hand, never pressure. Fully insured, no-obligation quote, written the same day.
