Gloucestershire Roof Cleaning cleans roofs in Ross-on-Wye: a low-pressure clean or a manual moss scrape, finished with a biocide treatment. Most roof cleans are £550–£950, including a free gutter clear and a 2-year moss-free guarantee.
Free gutter clearance and free biocide on every Ross-on-Wye roof clean. Listed and conservation-area roofs handled correctly.
Ross-on-Wye sits on a red-sandstone promontory, the town's name itself coming from a Celtic word for a spur of high ground, with St Mary's spire crowning the bluff and the streets falling away on every side toward the River Wye. It is a beautiful position — The Prospect, John Kyrle's public garden of 1696, looks out over the famous horseshoe bend in the river — but it is also a position that wrecks roofs. The bluff drops steeply to the river and the wide Wye floodplain below it, so the pitches on the lower, steeper streets sit in each other's shade for much of the day, and the river throws up mist and damp air that settles over the town. Moss, lichen and gloeocapsa algae live on exactly that combination of shade and moisture, so a roof here carries noticeably more growth than an identical house up on the drier, more open farmland inland.
You see it most starkly down in the old town. The tight pattern of the High Street, Broad Street, Church Street and Wye Street is packed with tall period properties standing shoulder to shoulder, many of them red-sandstone or brick under natural slate. They shade each other for most of the day, the streets are narrow enough that very little direct sun reaches the lower slopes, and the low ground beside the river floods — the December 2000 floods put the low-lying land along Wilton Road under water, and the town has since had a flood-alleviation scheme on the brooks that run through it. Left for a few winters, a north-facing slate pitch in one of those streets turns into a thick mat of moss sitting in the laps, with rust weeping off old valley metal and gutters packed with washed-down growth.
The river itself is the constant. The Wye loops right around the foot of the town, and even in a dry summer that body of water keeps the air around Ross heavy with moisture. Damp air is what the growth feeds on, and the shaded lower slopes mean the roofs never properly dry out between wet spells. It is a genuinely different microclimate to the open countryside a few miles away — the same house, the same slate, greens up faster here because of where it sits.
Out on the edges of town the roof changes but the problem doesn't. Tudorville, Overross and the Ashburton side, and the newer infill toward Wilton, are mostly post-war and modern concrete interlocking tile. Its rough, sandy face holds on to spores, and in damp valley air it mats up thickly, so the bulk comes off first, with a low-pressure clean or by hand from a tower or roof ladder, before the biocide goes on. A listed sandstone house below the spire and a 1990s semi on the Overross edge are green for the same reason: the damp of the Wye valley.
The one thing that genuinely changes the job in Ross is how much of the town is heritage. The conservation area, first designated in 1970 and extended in 1976, covers most of the old town, and it holds around 154 listed buildings — three of them Grade I. That means an unusually high share of the roofs we quote on are natural slate or old hand-made clay on fragile red-sandstone structures, and those simply cannot be pressure-washed. Blasting splits the slate, strips the surface and drives water under the laps into a building that has stayed watertight for centuries by being left alone. So on Ross's heritage roofs we clean at low pressure and remove the moss by hand, working off a roof ladder that spreads the load, and then treat with biocide. It is slower than blasting a modern tile, but on a slate roof that costs a fortune to re-cover, careful is the whole point.
Each one has its own approach. On a town this old and this damp, method matters far more than equipment.
The roof that defines old Ross — natural slate on the red-sandstone and brick period houses along the High Street, Broad Street, Church Street and Wye Street, much of it inside the conservation area. Brittle, expensive to re-cover, and never to be pressured. These are cleaned at low pressure and hand-cleared of moss off a roof ladder, with biocide kept off the lime mortar, ashlar dressings and old leadwork.
Found on terraced cottages and outbuildings in the old town, and on older farmhouses and barns out toward Walford, Bridstow and Weston-under-Penyard. Much of it has been up for a century or more and goes brittle in the wet, so it gets a dry scrape by hand and no water pressure at all. The bedded ridges, hips and valleys get the slowest work, because that's where the oldest tiles sit.
Most of Tudorville, Overross and the roads on the edge of town are roofed in Marley or Redland concrete tile. The gritty surface gives moss a foothold and the river damp keeps it growing, so these are often the most heavily mossed roofs in Ross. They take a low-pressure clean, or a hand scrape where the moss is very thick, then the biocide. The tiles keep brightening for up to two months afterwards as the treatment works.
Newer homes toward Wilton, Bridstow and the Overross fringe, built from the 1990s on, mostly in smoother concrete with the odd plain-tile or pantile roof. They're young, but they still go green in a valley this damp, usually on the side that gets least sun. A low-pressure clean and biocide deals with it while the growth is light.
From the listed heart of the town out to the surrounding HR9 villages — same Wye-valley damp, slightly different roof on each.
The Market House, the High Street, Broad Street and the streets falling away below St Mary's spire — tall, shaded, listed and conservation-area properties on red sandstone and brick under natural slate, all of it a low-pressure clean and hand-scrape only.
The older lanes running down toward the river and the old wharf — period cottages and houses on slate and old clay, often on the shaded, north-facing slopes where the damp coming off the Wye lets moss take a real hold.
The main residential estates on the edge of town — post-war and later concrete-tile homes that mat up fast in the valley damp. Whole streets went up at the same time, so their roofs tend to need attention at the same time too.
Just over the Wilton Bridge across the river, beneath the ruins of Wilton Castle — a mix of stone and brick cottages and newer homes on slate, clay and modern tile, all greening in the floodplain damp right beside the Wye.
The villages south and east of the town, toward the wooded slopes of Penyard — detached and period houses on clay, slate and tile, shaded by trees and rising ground that keep the roofs damp and mossy.
The surrounding HR9 villages spread across the south-Herefordshire countryside — stone and clay cottages alongside more modern housing, the same mix of heritage and current roofs we cover right across the Ross area.
Ross-on-Wye's conservation area was designated in 1970, extended in 1976 to take in the Victorian and Edwardian streets, and covers most of the old town, and within it sit around 154 listed buildings — three Grade I, eight Grade II*, and the rest Grade II. At the centre of it all is the seventeenth-century red-sandstone Market House, Grade II* listed and the heart of the town. The whole character of Ross — the reason it markets itself as the birthplace of British tourism — is that unbroken run of red-sandstone and brick frontages climbing the promontory toward the spire, with their natural-slate and old clay roofs. A great many of those roofs sit on listed buildings, and they need a completely different hand to a modern tile, because force cracks old slate and drives water into a structure that has stayed watertight for centuries precisely because nobody blasted it.
Cleaning a listed roof doesn't usually need listed-building consent, because taking moss and algae off doesn't change the building's fabric. The line is crossed when work affects the lime mortar, the ashlar dressings, the lead or the original slate fixings. If your job comes near that line we'll say so at the survey, so you can check with Herefordshire Council's conservation officers before booking anything. On the day, the edges where biocide could reach lime pointing are sheeted and rinsed. Old lead that has dulled to a grey patina is normally best left as it is; polishing it back to bright metal is not what a conservation officer wants to see on a Ross frontage.
It's worth remembering why Ross looks the way it does. The town grew up on its red-sandstone bluff above a crossing of the Wye, prospered on river trade and markets, and was famously shaped by John Kyrle — the "Man of Ross" — who laid out The Prospect and gave the town its public walks at the end of the seventeenth century. The polychrome-brick villas with their ashlar dressings, the terraced cottages, and the great slate roofs all date from that long period of prosperity, and they lean against each other up streets that were never designed for a pressure-washer hose. A single terrace can carry slate, old clay and later repairs all on one run — which is exactly why we survey each property properly rather than quoting a roof we haven't seen.
Before the survey we look your address up on the Historic England list. It's a quick check, and on natural slate it matters: the right method first time gives a clean that lasts, and the wrong one gives a repair bill for matched, reclaimed slate.
We visit, check the roof, the gutters and how we'll reach both, and give you a written price. You won't be pushed to book there and then. If the house is listed or inside the conservation area, we raise anything that could need consent at this stage, not halfway through the job.
Depending on the roof, we either give it a low-pressure clean or scrape the moss off by hand, dry, from a ladder, tower or roof ladder, clearing the gutters at the same time. On Ross's fragile natural slate and old clay, and on the damp, thickly mossed concrete tile out on the estates alike, the bulk growth has to come off — never blasted — before the biocide can reach the spores beneath.
We then apply an approved biocide at the correct dilution. It kills algae, lichen and leftover moss spores down to the root, with no high-pressure water on the slates. In a shaded town by the Wye, where damp air brings growth back quickly, this is the step that makes the clean last.
Guaranteed against moss, algae and lichen for two years. If regrowth appears in that time, we return and re-treat it at no charge. Written into every quote.
Heritage slate is slow work, so a Ross-on-Wye roof clean has us on ladders or a tower for most of the day. The gutters are right there, so we clear them as we go, and the biocide is what keeps the roof clean for two years in this damp valley. Neither costs extra.
That gutter clear matters in Ross. When moss and grit wash off a roof and pack the gutter, rain overflows and runs down the wall, and the soft red sandstone and old render in the town soak it up and carry the damp towards the eaves. We clear the gutters as the debris comes off, so the job finishes with roof and gutters both working. With the biocide still active after we've gone, most roofs here go two seasons or more before they need looking at again.
Get my Ross-on-Wye quoteMost roof cleans in Ross-on-Wye cost £550–£950, including moss removal, a biocide treatment and a free gutter clear. Larger, steeper or harder-to-reach roofs cost more. In Ross that range covers a lot: brittle natural slate on listed town-centre houses at one end, big concrete-tile estate roofs at Tudorville and Overross at the other. The fragile roofs take slow hand-scraping or a careful low-pressure clean, so we price after seeing the roof rather than over the phone. A typical terrace or semi falls within the range; heavy moss, difficult access or a large detached house takes it higher.
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 two years.
Gutters on their own: gutter cleaning in Ross-on-Wye starts from £90 and is typically under £150 for a two-storey house, and it's free with any roof clean. More about our gutter cleaning →
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 → Also worth reading: is roof cleaning safe?, why clean your roof?, how to get rid of roof moss for good and the best time of year to clean a roof.
At Gloucestershire Roof Cleaning, most roof cleans in Ross-on-Wye cost £550–£950, including moss removal, a biocide treatment and a free gutter clear. Larger, steeper or harder-to-reach roofs cost more. We give you a written price the same day after a free survey, with no deposit — you pay when the job's done. See the full roof cleaning cost guide.
No, because we match the method to the roof. The natural slate and old hand-made clay you find on the listed and conservation-area properties around the High Street, Church Street and Wye Street get a low-pressure clean and hand moss-removal only — pressure on those splits slates and strips the surface. The modern interlocking concrete tile on the newer estates off Ashburton, Tudorville and the Overross edge can take a more robust low-pressure clean where that's the right tool. Either way, it's the biocide that stops the moss coming back, not the force of the water.
Two years, guaranteed. The biocide we apply keeps killing fresh spores after we've left site, and if regrowth appears within two years we come back and re-treat it at no charge. Ross is a damp place for a roof: the town stands on a sandstone bluff above the Wye floodplain, mist comes off the river, and the lower streets shade each other. North-facing pitches in the narrow streets below St Mary's spire tend to colour up first. A pressure wash with no treatment lasts about one season, because it leaves the spores in the slate; the biocide deals with those.
Yes, when it's applied properly. We use approved biocides at the manufacturer's dilution and only spray in dry weather, so the product bonds to the roof instead of running off. Pets stay indoors while we spray and for an hour after, and borders are covered and watered before and after. The Wye is a protected river and many Ross gardens slope down towards it, so we're particularly careful with run-off here.
Yes, and it's the work we take the most care over. Ross-on-Wye's conservation area, first designated in 1970 and extended in 1976, contains around 154 listed buildings (three Grade I, eight Grade II* and the rest Grade II), so many roofs on the High Street, Church Street, Broad Street and Wye Street are natural slate or old clay on fragile red-sandstone buildings. Those get a hand scrape or a careful low-pressure clean, never high pressure, and we sheet and rinse the edges so biocide stays off lime mortar, ashlar and old lead. Taking moss and algae off doesn't usually need listed-building consent, because the fabric isn't altered. Work that touches mortar, lead or the original fixings does, and we'll point it out before we start so you can check with Herefordshire Council's conservation team.
It does. Ross sits on a red-sandstone bluff above the Wye floodplain, and the low ground by the river floods — the December 2000 floods put the low-lying land along Wilton Road under water, and a flood-alleviation scheme on the town's brooks came later. Even in a dry year that low, wet river ground and the mist rolling off the Wye keep humidity high, and high humidity is exactly what moss, lichen and algae live on. So Ross roofs tend to carry heavier growth than houses up on drier, more open ground. It doesn't change how we clean, but it does mean the free biocide treatment earns its keep here — without it the regrowth comes back quickly in this river-valley microclimate.
Usually not. Most of the work is done from a ladder or scaffold tower with long-reach tools, so no weight goes on the slates and nothing scuffs the ridge. Where the roof is steep or old, as on the tall town-centre houses and the brittle slate of the listed streets, we hook a roof ladder over the ridge to spread the load. You'll know which approach we're using on your house, and why, before we begin.
Three reasons. First, the roof lasts longer: moss holds water against slate and tile, so frost does more damage, and replacing natural slate or old clay in the conservation area is expensive. Second, the gutters keep working: moss washes into gutters and downpipes and blocks them, sending rain down the walls, which is the last thing a damp riverside town needs. Third, insurance and sale: some insurers ask about roofs covered in growth, and buyers paying for a period house in Ross notice a green roof. A clean costs far less than new slates or repointed ridges.
Not for good: spores are always in the air, and in a river town like Ross there are plenty of them. Taking the moss off by hand or with a low-pressure clean, then applying a biocide, keeps a roof clear for two years; our guide explains how to get rid of roof moss permanently.
A dry spell in spring or early autumn suits it best: the biocide needs dry weather to bond, and treating before the wet months gets ahead of the moss. Down by the Wye the damp lingers, so a settled week in April or September is ideal. We still clean year-round, as the biocide works whenever it goes on dry.
No. High-pressure jet washing splits slates, strips the surface and forces water underneath. On the natural slate and old clay of the town-centre and listed properties we clean at low pressure and remove moss by hand, then treat with biocide. The modern interlocking concrete tile on the Ross estates can take a controlled low-pressure clean where it's the right tool. We always tell you the method first.
It depends on the covering. A manual dry moss scrape suits the brittle natural slate and old hand-made clay on the listed streets, because nothing but a hand tool touches the surface. A low-pressure clean suits sound concrete tile on estates like Tudorville and Overross, where it lifts the moss and the dirt packed into the laps. Both are followed by the same biocide treatment, and both come with the free gutter clear and the 2-year guarantee. We tell you which one at the survey, in writing, before you book.
Gutter cleaning on its own starts from £90 and is typically under £150 for a two-storey house. It's free with any roof clean, because we clear what comes off the roof while we're up there. Ross is a leafy town, with the trees along the Wye and the woods on Penyard and Chase Hill dropping leaves every autumn, so a yearly clear is worth booking even when the roof doesn't need doing.
Yes. We're based in Gloucester and Ross is a straight run out along the A40, so the town and the HR9 villages around it, including Wilton, Bridstow, Walford, Weston-under-Penyard, Peterstow, Upton Bishop and Gorsley, are part of our regular area. The survey is free. Nearby we also cover Mitcheldean, Newent and Ledbury.
Yes — Gloucestershire Roof Cleaning carries £5m public liability insurance.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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
Free gutter clean and biocide treatment with every roof clean. Listed and conservation-area roofs handled correctly. Fully insured, no-obligation quote, written the same day.
