Sandstone care in Ingleside

Ingleside sits on the plateau west of Mona Vale, around 200 metres above sea level, and is largely made up of semi-rural properties and bushland, with housing development increasing. The suburb takes its name from Ingleside House, built for Baron von Bieren, whose gunpowder works gave Powder Works Road its name. Its best-known landmark is the Sydney Baha'i Temple on Mona Vale Road, completed in 1961, and the Smoky Dawson Ranch gates are a local curiosity. Subdivisions in the 1950s and 1960s created small farm lots, and nurseries moved here in the 1970s. On a typical property, sandstone appears as natural outcrops, terraced garden walls, driveway edging, dam and creek linings, and paving around the house.

Acreage in the bush means stone that spends a lot of time in shade and leaf litter. Eucalypt leaves and bark pile up against walls and on paving, and when wet they leave brown tannin stains. Damp, south-facing outcrops and walls grow black mould, green algae and lichen, and moss settles in the joints of dry-laid stone. Long driveways collect red-brown soil washed down in heavy rain, which can tint pale sandstone edging. Properties close to bushland may also be affected by smoke and ash after hazard-reduction burns, leaving grey film on exposed surfaces. With fewer neighbours and longer distances between buildings, stone here is often left untended for years before anyone calls us.

Ingleside was part of the former Pittwater Council area, and the Pittwater Local Environmental Plan 2014 lists several local heritage items in the suburb. A NSW Government heritage assessment of the Ingleside precinct names the Baha'i House of Worship, Ingleside House and its curtilage, the ruins of the powder works, Cicada Glen Nursery, Smoky Dawson's Ranch gates and Katandra Bushland Sanctuary among them. If your property is one of these, or adjoins one, ask council what approval applies before restoration or anything beyond gentle cleaning. No conservation area, as distinct from individual items, turned up for Ingleside. Many lots also fall within the bush fire prone areas council marks on its published map.

Expect a 45 to 55 minute drive for us from Double Bay to Ingleside, normally via Mona Vale Road. Properties are spread out and often reached by long or unsealed driveways, so we confirm vehicle access and where we can set up close to the work. Water supply can be the deciding factor: some acreage homes rely on tanks, and we discuss how much water a clean will use before we start, keeping it as low as the method allows. Outcrops and walls on uneven ground are cleaned by hand where machines cannot reach. All wash water is captured with bunding and vacuums rather than left to soak toward dams, creeks or bushland, and nothing is sprayed near native vegetation at the property edge.