Specialists in Roofing Maintenance and Restoration
Pressure cleaning for roofs, driveways, concrete, pavers, car parks, walls and sandstone, from Manly to Palm Beach.
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Damp coastal air, shade from established gums and a roof that stays wet longer after rain make a good recipe for moss, lichen and algae. It shows first on the southern face of a roof and on the paths that never get full sun. Pressure on its own is not the answer: too much of it strips the surface off an old tile or drives water up under a ridge cap. The pressure gets matched to what we are cleaning, and that is the difference between a roof that looks better and a roof that starts leaking.
Roof moss and lichen are the most common reason we get called on the Northern Beaches, and the peninsula gives growth everything it needs.
Humidity off the ocean, rain that arrives in heavy bursts, and a tree line that keeps the southern face of most roofs damp for days. Moss builds along the laps and in the valleys. Lichen, the pale grey or orange crust, anchors into the surface of the tile and will not wash off.
On terracotta the glaze on the weather side has usually worn through on anything built before the eighties. A porous terracotta tile takes up water and grows lichen in the surface itself, so high pressure removes the face of the tile along with the growth. Those roofs are treated first and then soft washed at the lowest pressure that works.
On Colorbond and other metal roofing the problem is different. Metal does not grow lichen the way tile does, but it collects algae on the shaded side and a salt film everywhere, and the real risk is water direction: anything driven up a lap or into a screw line ends up inside the roof. Metal gets washed down the sheet, never up it.
That is the approach on the Northern Beaches whether the roof is terracotta, concrete or Colorbond: kill the moss and lichen at the root, then use the least pressure that will lift it.
Old terracotta, concrete tile, metal, sandstone and concrete all take different pressure. We check what we are dealing with before we start.
Moss, lichen and algae are cleaned back off the roof, working with the fall of the roof rather than driving water up under the laps.
Concrete, pavers and steps that have gone green or black are cleaned back.
Rendered and brick walls that have picked up grime and mould on the shaded side.
What comes off the roof has to go somewhere. We clear it out rather than leave it sitting in the gutter.
Surrounds, windows and garden edges are rinsed off once the work is finished.
Call 0478 688 951 or send the form with your address and what you want cleaned.
We look at the surfaces and their condition, and quote before starting.
We clean at a pressure suited to the surface, clear the gutters of what comes off, and rinse the area down.
Monkeys Roofing does pressure cleaning across the Northern Beaches and the rest of Sydney, on roofs and on the surfaces around the house.
Yes, and that is why we do not use it on one. High pressure strips the glaze off terracotta, blows old pointing out of the ridges and hips, and can force water under the tiles and into the ceiling. Older tiled roofs get treated first and then soft washed at the lowest pressure that lifts the growth.
On a shaded, damp roof it will return eventually. How fast depends on tree cover and how much sun that face gets. Keeping the gutters and the roof clear of leaf litter slows it down.
Yes. Concrete, pavers, steps and rendered walls are all part of what we clean.
If the roof or the driveway has gone green over the last few wet seasons, we can take a look. Call 0478 688 951 or send the form for a free quote.
Manly · Fairlight · Balgowlah · Seaforth · Clontarf · Freshwater · Curl Curl · Dee Why · Collaroy · Narrabeen · Warriewood · Mona Vale · Newport · Avalon Beach · Palm Beach · Brookvale · Frenchs Forest · Belrose · Elanora Heights · Killarney Heights
Also servicing surrounding Northern Beaches suburbs. See our Northern Beaches roofing page, or how we handle pressure cleaning across Sydney.
Australian standards and Code requirements we work to, with the source for each.
SafeWork NSW reports that most serious and fatal falls happen from roofs, ladders and building edges at four metres or under, and a fall from two metres can kill. A single-storey Sydney house is squarely inside that range.
Source: SafeWork NSW, falls from heights
Observatory Hill has averaged around 1,213 mm of rain a year on records kept since 1858. Everything on the roof, from panels and skylights to gutters, has to keep working through that volume of water and the grit it carries off the surface.
NSW work health and safety law requires a safe work method statement for construction work where a person could fall more than two metres. Single-storey gutter and roof work clears that line, which is why the job is planned, harnessed or edge-protected before anyone gets on the roof.
Source: SafeWork NSW, working at heights
Last updated: 8 October 2026
Pressure cleaning in the Northern Beaches has its own rules: heritage areas, salt air and tight access all change how the job is done. Everything below links to the council or standard it comes from, so you can check it yourself.
Class 3 fasteners are only acceptable beyond 1km from marine influence. From 200m to 1km Class 4 is required, and inside 200m even Class 4 is not enough without checking with the supplier. Most of the ocean strip sits inside that band, so standard screws rust out long before the sheeting does.
Source: BlueScope TB-16 and AS 3566.2The standard warranty requires fresh water washing at least every six months of any roof area rain does not wash naturally, and does not cover failure to replace corroded fasteners. On a coastal home that means eaves, awnings and wall abutments need washing deliberately.
Source: BlueScope, Colorbond roofing sample warrantyCollaroy-Narrabeen, Bilgola and Basin Beach at Mona Vale are formally classified by the NSW Government as coastal erosion hotspots, and council maintains emergency action sub plans for each. Homes on those strips take the most direct wind-driven salt and storm loading in the area.
Source: Northern Beaches Council, erosionNoise from power tools must not be audible inside a neighbours habitable room between 8pm and 7am Monday to Saturday, or 8pm and 8am on Sundays and public holidays. That sets the earliest a crew can start saws and nail guns on your street.
Source: Northern Beaches Council, noise pollutionBlueScope names Manly Beach as its metropolitan example of a surf marine environment, the harshest of its three salt classes under AS 4312. Wind, shelter and areas the rain never washes push the real corrosivity higher still, which is why the steel grade used here is not the one used inland.
Source: BlueScope Technical Bulletin TB-35 and AS 4312:2019We cover Manly, Fairlight, Freshwater, Curl Curl, Dee Why, Collaroy, Narrabeen, Warriewood, Mona Vale, Newport, Bilgola, Avalon, Whale Beach, Palm Beach, Frenchs Forest, Belrose, Terrey Hills, Forestville, Killarney Heights, Balgowlah, Seaforth, Brookvale, Cromer, Elanora Heights, Bayview and Church Point.
Northern Beaches roof screws have to match the distance from the surf. Class 3 fasteners are only acceptable beyond 1km from marine influence, Class 4 is required from 200m to 1km, and inside 200m even Class 4 needs checking with the supplier, so standard screws rust out long before the sheeting does.
The standard Colorbond warranty requires fresh water washing at least every six months of any roof area rain does not wash naturally, and it does not cover failure to replace corroded fasteners. On a Northern Beaches coastal home that means eaves, awnings and wall abutments need washing deliberately.
If the house is on Collaroy-Narrabeen, Bilgola or Basin Beach at Mona Vale, yes. The NSW Government classifies those three Northern Beaches beaches as coastal erosion hotspots, and homes on those strips take the most direct wind-driven salt and storm loading in the area.
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