Cleaning Historic Houses

The various historic houses and stately homes of the UK add greatly to the country's rich heritage. Making sure that they appear as they should, looking clean and pristine, is not always an easy job.

While many of us might attempt to do our own cleaning, this is usually not an option with historic buildings. Given the nature of the structures, cleaning the buildings often involves a combination of precision and conservation.

Simply hosing down a timber-framed building, for example, can have disastrous consequences.

The cleaning of historic houses is now approached by building cleaning experts in a very specific manner. They look to clean buildings quickly and efficiently, while also ensuring that the structure and appearance of the building are protected at all times.

Unfortunately, the approach to cleaning hasn't always been as sensitive to the needs of the building as it is today. The use of abrasive cleaning techniques was once fairly common, often causing long term damage to some of the country's most beautiful historic houses.

The problem with abrasive techniques is that they often produce results that initially look impressive. They can be used to clean a large building very quickly. The problem is that the damage that they cause becomes evident over time, sometimes leading to hefty repair bills in the future.

UK specialists are increasingly using a new set of techniques, that involves less abrasive action and a reduction in the chemicals used as part of the overall process. These new techniques have led to an improvement in the quality of building cleaning.

A key component has been that historic houses can still be cleaned quickly and efficiently, but without doing any damage to the underlying structure.

Many of our historic homes are not simply to be lived in - they are to be treasured.

By taking an environmentally friendly, sensitive approach to cleaning them, we can ensure that they will be enjoyed by future generations.