Looking After Your Taylormade Facades Profiles

Airborne dust and general atmospheric dirt build up on any exterior finish over time, and our profiles are no exception. An occasional low-pressure wash with a mild detergent is normally all that's needed to bring the coating back to its original appearance.

Profiles collect dirt differently to a flat render wall — horizontal upper surfaces such as cills, coping stones, string bands and parapet cappings catch standing water, leaves and debris, and will usually need more frequent attention than the vertical faces around them.

Green or black discolouration on a profile is usually algae, lichen or moss taking hold — most common on north-facing or shaded elevations, under overhangs, or on horizontal ledges like cills and cappings where moisture sits longest. This is an environmental factor, not a sign of a faulty coating.

Catch it early. At the first signs of growth, a light clean is often enough to stop it establishing on the profile. For more established growth, a biocide treatment is the standard approach — applied to the affected area, left to work for the period stated on the product, then rinsed off with a low-pressure wash. Always follow the specific product's instructions, and always rinse thoroughly afterwards, since leftover residue can sometimes encourage regrowth rather than prevent it.

If a stain persists on the profile after treatment, don't reach for anything abrasive — get in touch with us for advice before trying anything stronger.

Rust streaking down a profile almost always comes from a nearby fixing, bracket or piece of ironwork corroding above it — not from the profile or its coating. Once it sets into the finish, it can be very difficult to remove fully.

We fix our profiles using non-corrosive fixings as standard. The risk comes later, when other items get fixed near or onto a profile after installation — guttering brackets, house numbers, lighting. Always use stainless steel or other non-corrosive fixings for anything mounted close to a profile, so run-off doesn't stain the coating below it.

This is the one homeowners most often get wrong, so it's worth reading carefully. Our profiles are lightweight by design — the EPS core has no fixing strength of its own, so a screw driven straight into a profile won't hold anything, and it can crack the coating and let water in behind the finish.

Anything being fixed onto or through one of our profiles — a hanging basket bracket, a light fitting, a satellite dish — needs a fixing that passes through the profile via a sleeve and anchors into the solid structure behind it, with the gap around the fixing properly sealed against water ingress. This isn't a job for a standard wall plug and screw.

If you're planning to fix anything to or near a profile we've supplied or installed, get in touch first — we'd rather advise you up front than see a finish damaged by a fixing done the wrong way.

Surface soiling is a cosmetic issue. Water getting in behind a profile at a joint or junction is the thing that actually causes long-term damage — so periodic checks of these points matter more than how clean the profile looks.

Once or twice a year, check the joints between profile lengths, mitres at corners and returns, and the junction where a profile meets the wall render or another material. If a sealant joint looks cracked, shrunk or has come away, it should be raked out and re-sealed before it lets water through — small maintenance now avoids bigger repairs later.

A white, powdery deposit on or near a profile (efflorescence) is usually caused by excess moisture reaching cement-based materials nearby — check nearby sprinklers or drainage aren't directing water at it, and it can typically be brushed or washed away.

This page is general guidance to help you look after your profiles day to day. If you're dealing with something beyond routine cleaning — a crack, a chip, coating loss, or a suspected leak at a joint — get in touch and we'll advise on the best way to put it right.