Exterior cleaning built around the Far North Queensland climate

Why this is a specialist job up here

A building in Cairns weathers on a different clock to one down south. The humidity, the run of storms from December through March, and the salt off the water mean a surface that looked clean in April can be visibly green by Christmas. Most of what people call dirt up here is not dirt at all. It is living growth: mould on render, lichen locked into roof tiles, and the biological film that turns pale concrete almost black.

That matters because growth and dirt come off differently. Dirt responds to pressure. Growth has to be killed at the root or it is back within a season, which is why a surface that was blasted clean in the morning can look patchy again within weeks.

What we will not do

We do not put high pressure on a tiled roof. It strips the protective coating off the tile, forces water back under the laps, and takes years off a roof to make it look good for one afternoon. We do not high pressure painted render or fibre cement either, for the same reason.

We also will not pressure wash bonded asbestos cement sheeting. A lot of mid-century housing stock in the inner suburbs is clad in it, and blasting it releases fibres. Where we find it, we say so and explain the options.

And we will tell you when a job is not worth doing. Porous crumbling tile and paint that is already failing do not come back, and cleaning them is money spent on a surface that needs replacing.

How a job runs

You describe the surface and the suburb, or send a photo. You get a price in writing with no obligation. We prove the method on a small test area before committing to the whole surface, wet down and protect the gardens, and walk the finished job with you before we pack up. Anything you are not happy with gets done again while the gear is still out.

Where we work

Cairns and the northern beaches, out through Smithfield and Trinity Beach to Palm Cove, inland to Redlynch and Kuranda, south through Edmonton and Gordonvale, and up onto the Tablelands. The full list is on the areas page, and each one has notes on what that particular pocket does to a building.