Sandstone cleaning and sealing in Kensington

Kensington sandstone tends to belong to a building rather than a household. Apartment blocks along Doncaster Avenue, Todman Avenue and the streets off Anzac Parade have sandstone fences, piers and steps that have seen decades of residents, deliveries and bins. Many show the same pattern: a dark band down the centre of the steps, green edges along shaded paths, and pale stripes where someone once used a pressure washer too close. Frontages on Anzac Parade add traffic soot and, in places, construction dust. In West Kensington, older houses bring garden walls, steps and chimneys into the mix. We inspect and test before quoting.

Traffic grime lifts with a sandstone-safe alkaline detergent and soft brushing, followed by a warm rinse at gentle pressure. Algae on shaded paths gets a biocide and enough time to die off before rinsing. Cement splatter is softened and lifted, never attacked with acid, and gum is removed without scraping. On older West Kensington stone we slow down further, giving treatments longer to work and keeping water use low. Our technicians never use a narrow high-pressure nozzle on sandstone. Wash water is held back with mats and bunds and vacuumed up, so it stays off the footpath and out of the drains.

For strata buildings, sealing entry steps and paths usually pays for itself, because a breathable impregnator keeps grime and spills near the surface and lets routine cleaning by building staff work properly. Fences and walls are sealed only on their caps, where water sits. Older stone on heritage properties is often best left open, especially walls drawing moisture from the ground. Committees see samples first, and we give the strata manager a written record of the product, date and areas, which helps when the next maintenance round comes up. A water-drop test on the busiest step each year shows when resealing is due.