Exterior cleaning in Balgowlah Heights

Large 1950s to 1970s family homes on generous blocks, many rebuilt since 2010 as two-storey render-and-stone houses with pools, swimming pool decks and long exposed-aggregate driveways. Most of what we clean here dates from 1950s to 1970s originals, heavy rebuild cycle since 2010, on Sandstone ridge between North Harbour and Middle Harbour, with bush gullies on the Dobroyd side.

We work around Tania Park and Dobroyd Head, Forty Baskets Beach, Reef Beach track and Balgowlah Heights village shops on Beatrice Street, on streets such as Beatrice Street, Lewis Street, Ernest Street, Radio Avenue and Woodland Street. The defining exterior problem is tannin and leaf staining on the long driveways from the street trees, green film on pool surrounds under the gum canopy, and mould on the shaded southern render.

Clontarf, Seaforth, Balgowlah Heights, North Balgowlah and Fairlight look over Middle Harbour and North Harbour. Salt is moderate, humidity is high, and the streets are a mix of 1960s brick, 1990s render and recent concrete-and-glass rebuilds on steep sandstone blocks.

Field note from Balgowlah Heights. The exposed-aggregate driveways on Lewis and Ernest Streets hold leaf tannin in the matrix between the stones; we hot-wash them with a rotary cleaner rather than a wand so the finish stays even and no zebra stripes are left. Nathan G, Founder

Planning and site constraints we check in Balgowlah Heights:

• Bushfire-prone land on the Dobroyd Head and Reef Beach edges inside Sydney Harbour National Park
• Steep blocks falling to Forty Baskets with sandstone outcrops

Run-off. Anything washed off a Balgowlah Heights property ends up in North Harbour and Middle Harbour unless it is stopped at the kerb. Northern Beaches Council enforces the NSW EPA rule that wash water, detergent and sediment stay out of stormwater, so we bund drains, capture run-off and vacuum-recover on sealed or commercial sites. More in our stormwater guide.