Window Cleaning in Cremorne

Height is the everyday obstacle. Conservation area flats run to two and three storeys, and most residents can clean the inside of an upper pane but not the outside. Timber is the characteristic window material in these areas, and North Sydney's heritage controls expect original window patterns on apartment buildings to be kept, so the windows you have are likely to stay. Frames and sills need as much attention as the glass.

Military Road brings its own conditions. Apartments sit above the shops behind continuous awnings, facing a major regional thoroughfare and its buses, and council expects facades there to include features such as double glazing to manage traffic noise. Road grime settles on that glass and in the frames, and an awning makes the pane above hard to reach from the footpath.

Towards the water the problem changes. Upper levels look out over Middle Harbour and Sydney Harbour from some buildings, and houses on Cremorne Point can have double elevations facing both street and water. Salt-laden winds along these frontages leave a film that a light shower only moves around.

Terraced gardens, stone walls and rock outcrops make ladders awkward on many of these properties. Carbon-fibre poles fed with purified water avoid that, and the glass dries spot-free with no detergent.

Modest windows have little margin. A floor-to-ceiling sheet of glass can lose some clarity and the room still feels bright, but a small pane in a 1920s flat is doing a much harder job, and a film of grime dims the room behind it quickly. Getting it clear again is a simple way to make a dark flat feel lighter.

Keeping an outlook counts here as well. Council protects district and harbour views in its planning statements, and on the point it refers to slot views past buildings to the water. Clean outside glass is what lets you enjoy them.

Timber frames and sills last better when they are looked after. Salt and grit sitting in a sill hold moisture against old joinery, and rinsing them away regularly is an easy form of maintenance on windows the planning controls expect to stay in place.

Nobody needs to come inside to do the upper levels, which suits a building where residents are not always home and access to each flat would be hard to arrange. For the shops and offices of Military Road, clean upper windows lift the look of the whole frontage.

Interior glass can be added on request, and before-and-after photos give managing agents an easy record of the visit.