Pressure Washing in Lilyfield

On the wider lots of the heritage estates, the driveway is the main hard surface. In the Austenham Estate it often runs beside the house to a garage alongside, and in the Campbell Estate it squeezes past the house to a garage at the back of the lot. Hemmed in by a wall on one side and a fence or neighbouring house on the other, it gets limited sun, can stay damp after rain and is prone to a slick green film where the shade is deepest. Cars add oil drips and tyre marks along the same strip.

Front paths are short, with small front gardens and regular setbacks, and in the Campbell Estate front fences are low. Some of those fences are original low brick with horizontal pipes, and the Dictionary of Sydney notes stone walling among southern Lilyfield's cottages. Old brick and stone are softer than a modern slab, and a careless lance can etch them, so the pressure comes down to suit.

Where the rinse water ends up matters too. Council's older suburb profile describes southern Lilyfield falling gently toward Whites Creek, now a concrete stormwater channel running north into Rozelle Bay. On its western and northern side the suburb meets Iron Cove, which University of Sydney geoscientists have described as heavily polluted, partly by road dust carried in on stormwater. With rinse water heading that way, it helps that the products we use are biodegradable.

The main return on pressure cleaning a Lilyfield driveway is grip. A narrow strip beside the house carries bins, prams and shopping as well as the car, and once an algae film forms on shaded concrete or pavers it turns slippery in the wet. Taking it back to a clean surface makes the daily walk to the back of the lot a safer one.

Oil and tyre marks are worth shifting for a different reason. On a short driveway they sit in plain view of the street, and lifting them is a far smaller step than resurfacing. If you plan to seal the driveway afterwards, a thorough clean is the preparation that sealer needs.

Old brick, stone walling and the low brick fences in front of the 1920s bungalows are part of the character of these streets. Cleaning them at a pressure matched to the material clears moss and grime with the aim of leaving the face of the brick or stone, and its joints, as they were.

Courtyards and patios behind the house get the same treatment, and on a compact block they can be the main outdoor living space, so getting them clean and usable again is worth more than the area suggests.

Quotes are based on the area, the surface and how much build-up there is, so a single narrow driveway is quoted for what it actually is.