Soft Washing in Balmain

Every wall type in Balmain fouls in its own way. By 1896 the Town of Waterview around Mort Bay held 348 weatherboard houses alongside 396 of brick and 51 of stone, and council's statement for The Valley now calls its timber terraces rare and asks for every timber building to be kept. On painted weatherboard, mould and mildew gather along the shadow line under each board, and the paint is all that stands between the timber and the weather, so a wash has to leave it where it is.

Plastered brick, which council's Iron Cove statement links mostly to houses built before 1890, brings its own detail. Some of it was scored with grooved stucco to imitate stone blocks once good sandstone grew expensive, and grime settles into those grooves. Where face brick was left bare, council's guidance is that it stays bare.

Position adds a layer of its own. Down towards White Bay, Valley houses are built hard against the road, so front walls take traffic grime with no garden to soften it. White Bay is also home to the cruise terminal, where residents have repeatedly complained about diesel fumes from ships that kept their engines running at berth; shore power for the terminal was targeted for completion at the end of 2026.

Our soft wash uses low pressure and specialised cleaning solutions to lift mould, algae, mildew, soot film and grime from weatherboard, plaster, face brick, eaves and fascias without damaging paint, render or mortar.

Heritage guidance narrows the options for a tired-looking Balmain house. Painting over grubby face brick or re-rendering a stained plaster wall runs against what council asks of owners in the conservation areas, so a proper house wash becomes the way to make those surfaces look cared for while leaving them exactly as they were built.

On painted weatherboard, washing also settles whether a repaint is really due. Mould and mildew make sound paint look worn out, and once they are gone it is much easier to see which boards need a painter and which only needed cleaning. If painting does go ahead, the walls are already clean for the preparation.

Plenty of Balmain houses are let: 41.4 per cent of occupied homes were rented at the 2021 Census. For a landlord or managing agent, a house wash between tenancies, with before-and-after photos as a record, shows the exterior has been kept up and helps the place present well to the next tenant.

Because the cleaning solutions are biodegradable and eco-friendly, they are safe around gardens, pets and children, which counts on streets where houses stand shoulder to shoulder and the neighbours' front steps are close by.