Roof Cleaning in Paddington

Council's heritage chapter records a surprisingly varied set of roof forms. Many terraces pitch both ways from a central ridge, often broken up by projecting gabled party walls. Others are skillions behind a street parapet that steps down the side wall, while corner terraces may use segmented hips. Below these sit verandah roofs with convex, concave or skillion profiles, and most rear additions have a lower skillion of their own. A clean has to deal with each of those surfaces.

Materials change with age. The earliest village roofs were timber shingles, and traditional slate means natural slate such as Welsh and South Australian, occasionally laid in ornamental patterns on later Victorian and Edwardian terraces. Corrugated galvanised iron came in short lengths, and zinc coated corrugated steel is also used. Council lists concrete tile as intrusive, but some roofs carry it anyway. Slate, terracotta and concrete tile, and corrugated or Colorbond metal are all cleaned.

Moisture is uneven across the suburb. Its landform is a north-facing amphitheatre, but the secondary ridges and gullies mean rows turn in different directions, and planes that face away from the sun are slower to dry. Heavy canopy has the same effect in streets like Paddington Street, and a parapet or raised party wall can throw shade across part of a plane. Every roof is inspected first, which decides between a soft wash and controlled pressure.

Council's stated aim is to retain and conserve the original roofscape, and it names concrete and glazed tile replacements as things eroding it. A roof that looks finished can push an owner towards replacement. Taking the growth off shows whether old slate or iron still has life in it, before anyone starts pricing a new roof.

Cleaning the roof also makes it easier to judge. Flashings, barge rolls and ridge detailing are among the elements council singles out as important, and these are much easier to assess once moss and lichen are gone. A slipped slate or a rusting length of iron found at this stage can be passed on to a roofer as a defined repair.

Where a patterned slate roof survives, growth can blur the contrast that gave it its character. On a plainer roof the benefit is simply evenness, because a blotchy plane stands out against the row beside it. The rear matters here too, since council notes that back roofs and elevations are often highly visible from public areas.

After cleaning, an anti-mould and lichen treatment is applied to slow regrowth, which helps most on shaded planes. Before-and-after photos come with every job, a useful record if you are selling, managing a rental or simply curious about a roof you can barely see from your own front door.