Soft Washing in Leichhardt

The earliest walls need the lightest touch. In the Excelsior Subdivision, which runs from Parramatta Road up to Marion Street, most bricks probably came from small local Leichhardt and Petersham brickmakers. They were less durable, so builders generally plastered over them and then added ornamental pressed mouldings and decorative tiles. Grime and mould collect in the recesses of that detailing, and driving water at it puts both the plaster and the soft brick it shields at risk.

From the 1890s face brick took over. It covers almost every building in the Leichhardt Street and Stanley Street area and the Scarvell Estate, and the Wetherill Estate adds glazed tiles and Art Deco brick decoration. Council's guidance for these conservation areas is to keep original face brick unpainted and original plaster intact, so when a wall looks tired, cleaning it is the sensible first step. A soft wash removes mould, algae and soot film without scouring the brick face or its mortar.

Not every job is heritage. In September 2026 we house washed a rendered two-storey Leichhardt home with a double garage, where grey streaking and mould had built up on the rendered gables, and the low-pressure wash lifted both. The remaining weatherboard houses, such as those on Short Street, call for the same care, because council lists them as rare and paint on timber lifts easily under force.

Painting over a grubby facade is the expensive answer, and in Leichhardt's heritage conservation areas it is often the wrong one too, since council asks owners not to paint original face brick. A house wash reaches the same goal by a different road: the brick's own colour comes back, and the wall keeps the finish it was built with.

On plastered houses the reward is detail. Pressed mouldings and decorative tiles that had faded into one grey surface become readable again, which counts on streets where houses share a unified building line and are seen side by side.

The method also protects what is already there. Low pressure leaves render, paint and mortar alone, so a clean does not turn into a patching job, and the biodegradable solutions we use are safe around pets, children and the small front gardens found in streets like those of the Scarvell Estate. Eaves and fascia are washed in the same visit.

Strata buildings and investment properties benefit just as much. A washed facade lifts how a block of flats or a rental presents to owners, tenants and buyers, and every job includes before-and-after photos that slot neatly into strata records or a sale campaign.