Clifftop stone care in Dover Heights

Dover Heights is a cliffside residential suburb, named for cliffs that resemble those at Dover, and many properties look out over the ocean or back toward the harbour. It is known for award-winning contemporary architect-designed homes, including the Moebius House, the Butterfly House, the Cliff House and the Holman House. Military Road runs along the ridge, with Hunter Street, Eastern Avenue and Douglas Parade leading toward the coast, where Dudley Page Reserve and the Weonga, Rodney and Raleigh coastal reserves line the cliff edge and the Bondi to Watsons Bay cliff walk passes by. On these homes stone usually means terraces, pool coping, outdoor stairs and feature cladding, often in travertine, limestone or sandstone.

Exposure is the defining factor. Homes on the eastern edge face the open ocean with nothing to break the wind, and onshore weather carries spray well inland. That salt settles on every horizontal surface and is driven into vertical faces. Porous stone soaks it up, and the repeated cycle of wetting and drying grows salt crystals inside the pores, which breaks up the surface. Studies at the University of Technology Sydney single out salt as a serious threat to the city's coastal sandstone, and travertine and limestone break down by much the same mechanism. Around pools, salt-chlorinated water adds to it, and acidic cleaners used to remove the resulting scale can etch calcareous stone.

Dover Heights is in Waverley Council. The council lists 17 heritage conservation areas across its area, and none of them covers Dover Heights, so area-based conservation controls are unlikely to affect most homes here. Individual properties can still have their own requirements, and some architect-designed houses carry particular material specifications that owners like to keep. If you have any doubt about a property, Waverley Council can confirm its status. Working near a cliff edge also brings safety considerations: our technicians do not work beyond fences or on unstable ground, and any concern about cliff stability, retaining structures or balustrades is referred to an engineer rather than handled by us.

Expect our technicians to take about 15 minutes to reach Dover Heights from Double Bay, through Rose Bay or Bondi Junction depending on traffic. Wind is the main practical issue. We plan sealing for calm, dry days, because sealer cannot be sprayed or rolled evenly in strong gusts and stone needs to be dry before it goes on. Wash water is captured and vacuumed up rather than being allowed to run toward the cliff or the street. Glass balustrades, render and timber are protected before work begins. On larger homes, our technicians often split the job across several days so each stage, cleaning, drying and sealing, gets the weather it needs.