Roof Cleaning in Pymble

Pymble's oldest estates are the place to start. The Pymble Heights conservation area keeps a largely intact part of an 1892 subdivision, with 18 listed heritage items among its Victorian, Federation and inter-war houses. Park Estate, tied to Robert Pymble and his descendants, adds substantial homes through to the late twentieth century, and Pymble Avenue was mostly built between the 1920s and 1940s. Roofs across those periods will not all be the same age or in the same condition.

Aspect does much of the damage. In Sydney a south-facing plane gets the least direct sun, and where the ground itself falls to the south, as it does along Pymble Avenue, the shadow of a neighbouring house or tree reaches further. Council's Sheldon Forest brochure describes the gullies near Avondale Creek as cool, shaded and sheltered from the drying effects of sun and wind. Homes on the slopes above them may share some of that damp.

The canopy is not going anywhere. Council's guidelines say increasing natural light is not a reason to prune, so a shaded plane is likely to stay that way.

Terracotta and concrete tile and corrugated or Colorbond metal are all cleaned, by soft wash or controlled pressure once the roof has been looked at. Slate is covered as well, after the same inspection.

Moss and lichen act like a wet sponge sitting on the tile. Held moisture speeds up wear and makes it harder to see what is happening underneath, so removing the growth does two jobs: it takes away the source of the damp and it exposes the roof for an honest look.

That look has a value beyond general maintenance. The NSW Rural Fire Service lists repairing damaged or missing tiles among its more permanent protections for a home, since a gap in a roof is somewhere for embers to get in. Finding a slipped tile on a clean roof is a small repair, and better than finding it later as a mark on an old ceiling.

Original materials are also part of why these houses are valued. Council's form for Pymble Avenue records a high level of integrity in the building stock and rates most of its houses as contributory, so nursing a good terracotta roof along makes more sense than letting it reach replacement.

After cleaning, an anti-mould and lichen treatment goes on to slow regrowth, and that earns its keep on the planes the sun rarely touches. Before-and-after photos are supplied with every job, giving an owner something to file with the house's records or show a buyer, without anyone needing to climb up and look.