Soft Washing in Coogee

Coogee's wall problems are concentrated on its flat buildings, which make up a large share of the suburb.

The 1930s to 1960s red brick blocks here have concrete balcony slabs and projecting window hoods, and the undersides of those elements are the worst affected surfaces on the whole building. They sit out of direct rain, so nothing washes them, but they still collect the salt aerosol coming off the bay. Salt holds moisture, mould grows on it, and the result streaks down the brickwork below in a pattern you can read from the footpath.

The face brick of that era is porous and holds salt in the mortar joints, so a wall can look dull overall rather than dirty in patches. On the newer rendered duplexes and townhouses the same film shows as an even grey on the seaward elevation, which owners usually mistake for the paint having faded.

Behind the beach the freestanding homes follow a more familiar pattern, with mould on the shaded southern side and wherever planting sits close to the wall.

None of this responds well to pressure, which drives water behind aged render and scours mortar out of face brick. We work at low pressure with a biodegradable solution and rinse thoroughly so the salt leaves with it.

In a suburb where most buildings are strata and a great deal of stock is let, how the exterior presents does measurable work.

Streaked balcony soffits read as a poorly run building regardless of how well it is actually managed, and that judgement attaches to every lot rather than one apartment. Clean, evenly finished walls across a facade shift rental appeal and sale prices for every owner in the block, and it is one of the cheapest improvements available to a committee.

The maintenance case sits underneath it. Salt held in render and porous face brick draws moisture into the surface continuously, and a coating under that load chalks and fails well short of its rated life. Repainting a three-storey block is a special-levy expense where washing it is an operating one, and the interval between washes is what determines how often the larger number arrives.

Concrete balcony edges deserve specific attention, because that is where the staining is both most visible and most persistent.

For freestanding owners the return is paint life on the shaded elevations, which in this suburb are usually the ones that never dry out properly.