Read Your Own Home in Twelve Photos: A Walk-Through From the Ground

Start With What the House Is Telling You

To find out what your house is telling you, walk around your home and take your own photos. With your phone, follow the roofline, rainwater route and hard surfaces from the ground, without a ladder or equipment. This gives you a record of what your home looks like now, so you can monitor it and spot changes for yourself.

Take the twelve photos in order, from the pavement along the front of the property and then down towards the ground. Each one shows a different part of the property and what to look out for.

The Whole Elevation from the Pavement

This wide shot shows the full elevation, including the roof edge, guttering, walls and visible downpipes. Look for anything reading as a green or dark line along the roof edge, and make a note when plants are visibly breaking the roofline because that is worth a professional call.

The Gutter Run Along the Front Edge

This photo brings the front gutter into focus along its full length, and here the green growth along the gutter itself shows the staining you are looking for. Water marks, drips or a sag in the line are the other signs, and an assessment is worth arranging when the front edge is staining or the run no longer looks level.

The Gutter Beneath the Nearest Tree

This is the part of the gutter most exposed to falling leaves and organic debris. Look for moss, twigs, seedlings or standing material, and call when anything is growing out of the channel.

The Hopper and Outlet

The hopper or outlet is where water gathers before entering the downpipe, so photograph the mouth of it as clearly as you can. If you can take the photo from an upstairs room, looking down into the hopper through the window, it shows what is sitting inside far better than any shot from the ground. Look for debris sitting inside it and water tracking around the outside, because a packed hopper and downpipe can stop rain reaching the drain as intended; it is worth a call when water runs down the wall beside it instead of through it.

The Downpipe at the Drain

This shot should follow the downpipe to its lowest visible point beside the drain. Look for water sheeting off the wall where the pipe ends, and arrange a professional clean when the shoe or grate is buried or blocked.

Fascia and Soffit Below the Gutter

The fascia and soffit sit directly below the gutter line and can show the effects of repeated overflow. Look for dark banding, blistering paint or swelling timber, and call when the board has gone soft or the paint is lifting in strips.

The Roof Surface from the Garden

From the far end of the garden, this photo gives you a useful view of the roof covering and any valleys. Look for heavy moss, dark algae patches or debris collected in a valley, and seek advice when the moss is thick enough to see individual lumps from ground level.

The Wall Beneath the Roofline

The wall directly beneath the roofline can show where water or organic growth is travelling. Look for green or grey staining following a vertical line, and arrange an assessment when the staining is bright green or spreading sideways rather than down.

The House and Extension Junction

This is the point where the main house meets a conservatory or extension, and it may contain a box gutter or hidden channel between the two structures. Look for a drainage route that cannot be seen from the ground at all, because that detail cannot be checked properly without the right access and is worth a professional call.

The Conservatory Roof

Photograph the conservatory roof from an angle that shows both the panels and the frames around them. Look for an algae film across the glazing and dirty runs on the frames, and call when the glazing is losing light or the frame joints look perished.

The Driveway, Path or Patio Joints

Take this image along the joints of the driveway, path or patio rather than straight down at one paving slab. Look for moss in the gaps and water pooling in one spot, and arrange an assessment when the surface stays wet long after the rest has dried or the channel drain sits lower than the paving.

The Solar Array from Street Level

A street-level angled photo can show the general condition of the solar array without touching the panels or roof equipment. Look for a dull film across the panels and moss debris collecting along the bottom edge, and call for Solar Panel Cleaning when one part of the array looks noticeably darker than the rest.

What to Do With the Photos

We are happy to help you with any of the external cleaning services that we have to offer. So, keep the walk mainly for your own records, but if a photo shows a particularly unusual problem that is difficult to explain, send it so that we can see what you mean.

The walk may also highlight other work: Roof Cleaning for photo seven, Conservatory Cleaning for photo ten, Driveway, Patio and Path Cleaning for photo eleven, or Solar Panel Cleaning for photo twelve. Date your photos and repeat the walk each season. Comparing the same views makes changes easier to spot.

The next step is then simple: look at what needs doing, and get your own instant quotation in real time, at your own convenience, for the services your photos have shown you. If you would rather talk it through first, email or phone us and we will happily go through your requirements and options with you. Here are the other ways we can help:

• Multi-service discount: a reduced price when you book several services together.
• VIP Membership: for existing domestic customers, a monthly plan with an annual clean, 10% off other services and a three-year price freeze.
• PayItMonthly: our interest-free payment option through our partners, three monthly instalments available at checkout for one-off bookings, if you are 18+ and pass standard eligibility and affordability checks.

Click here for more info on our services, here to read more about VIP Membership and finally here to visit our Instant quote and booking system