Exterior cleaning in Beacon Hill

1950s to 1970s brick and tile family homes on sloping blocks with views to the ocean or across to Manly Dam, with a growing number of two-storey rebuilds in render, stone cladding and Colorbond. Most of what we clean here dates from 1950s to 1970s with 2010s rebuilds, on high sandstone ridge between the Warringah Road and Manly Dam catchments.

We work around Governor Phillip Lookout, Beacon Hill Reserve, Warringah Road ridge and Manly Warringah War Memorial Park below, on streets such as Willandra Road, Tristram Road, Clontarf Street, Pringle Avenue and Loftus Street. The defining exterior problem is moss on steep, shaded driveways that become slippery, leaf-filled gutters on the reserve edge, and ocean salt haze on the east-facing glass of the ridge homes.

The suburbs one ridge back from the surf, such as Queenscliff, Balgowlah, Allambie Heights, Beacon Hill, Cromer, Collaroy Plateau, Elanora Heights and Bilgola Plateau, get the salt haze on ocean-facing glass without the full battering, and the mould and lichen that come with sea-level humidity.

Field note from Beacon Hill. Beacon Hill's driveways are steep and south-facing on the Willandra side; moss there is a genuine slip hazard, and we clean them with hot water and recommend a penetrating sealer so they stay grippy. Nathan G, Founder

Planning and site constraints we check in Beacon Hill:

• Bushfire-prone land on the Beacon Hill Reserve and Manly Dam edges
• Steep blocks with retaining walls and sloping driveways

Run-off. Anything washed off a Beacon Hill property ends up in Manly Dam and Dee Why Lagoon 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.