Pressure Washing in Randwick

Randwick's hard surfaces take a beating from the same trees that make the suburb attractive.

Moreton Bay fig fruit is the distinctive local stain. It drops in quantity, gets crushed underfoot and by tyres, and leaves a dark purple-black mark that penetrates concrete rather than resting on the surface. Plain water and pressure will lighten it and not much more; it has to be broken down chemically first. Plane leaf adds the more familiar brown tannin over autumn.

The surfaces themselves are varied. In the conservation areas near The Spot there are tessellated tile verandahs and sandstone steps and kerbing, both of which are soft and easily scarred, and both original to houses where original detail carries real value. The post-war streets have plain broom-finish concrete, and the newer townhouses closer to the university favour exposed aggregate and pavers.

Shared driveways running down the side of the older blocks to rear parking are the worst affected areas. They are narrow, permanently shaded and rarely dry out, so moss establishes and stays.

We set pressure by surface, go in low on sandstone and tessellated tile, and manage wash water in line with Randwick City Council requirements.

Most Randwick owners have decided the marks on their driveway are permanent. Usually they are not, and that is the useful thing to know.

Fig staining penetrates concrete, which is why hosing and even ordinary pressure washing barely touch it. Treated properly, with a product that breaks down the organic pigment before pressure is applied, most of it lifts. The difference between that and resurfacing a driveway is thousands of dollars.

The safety case is stronger again on the shared side driveways behind the older blocks. Those runs are narrow, shaded and permanently damp, and the moss film on them becomes genuinely slippery through winter. Where a driveway is common property, a fall raises the question of what maintenance schedule was in place, and regular cleaning is both the fix and the evidence.

On the heritage properties the benefit is preservation. Sandstone steps and tessellated verandah tiling are original, soft and permanently damaged by the wrong nozzle, so cleaning them correctly is the point rather than a bonus.

Presentation counts too. A driveway is usually the largest single surface anyone sees before reaching the front door.