Exterior cleaning in Fairlight

Harbour-view homes on the hill above Manly Cove with heavy salt exposure.

Harbourside apartments and Federation to modern homes on the slope above North Harbour. Around Fairlight Beach, the Manly Scenic Walkway and Forty Baskets Beach, on streets such as Sydney Road, Lauderdale Avenue, Fairlight Crescent and Woods Parade, the defining exterior problem is harbour salt on glass and render, with steep sites that need platform or pole access.

Salt spray is the dominant force on Fairlight exteriors. Glass hazes within weeks, render streaks under sills and fixings rust-run within a season, and black algae colonises the shaded southern walls. We schedule Fairlight homes on quarterly glass and six to twelve-monthly soft-wash cycles rather than waiting for the grime to become visible.

Northern Beaches Council. Northern Beaches Council stretches from Manly to Palm Beach and manages one of the longest coastlines of any Sydney LGA. Salt spray, sand and humidity mean glass, render and Colorbond need more frequent soft washing, and the council's coastal catchment policies require that no detergents or sediments enter stormwater drains that flow to the beaches and lagoons.

Our approach in Fairlight: We mix sodium hypochlorite, surfactant and water to a strength matched to the growth on the wall, usually 0.5 to 1.5 percent, apply it with a 12 volt soft-wash pump at under 100 psi, allow a 10 minute dwell, then rinse with fresh water from the top down. Every job is led by a named technician, carries $20 million public liability and finishes with same-day photos. Pricing is on request: we measure, test-patch any stone and send one fixed written figure.