Specialists in Roofing Maintenance and Restoration
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Most Inner West arrays are small and sit on a rear extension or on the north-facing section of an original roof. Two things work against them. Mature street trees and back-garden figs and jacarandas drop steadily onto a low-pitch roof, and low pitch means the litter stays where it lands instead of washing off. The result is a band of grime along the bottom edge of each panel and leaf matter packed under the rows. We clean the glass and clear what has collected around the array. Anything electrical stays with your installer.
How the array sits, what the roof underneath is made of and how we get to it are looked at first.
Narrow terrace access and shared rooflines are normal here, so getting up there safely is worked out before the day.
The glass is washed to lift the grime band and residue that build up along the lower edge, without scouring the panel face.
Leaf matter packed between and under the panels is cleared, which on a low-pitch roof is usually the bigger problem.
What comes off the array ends up in the gutter, so that gets cleared as well.
Panels rinsed down and the area checked before we leave.
Call 0452 223 327 or send the form with your address and roughly how many panels there are.
We come out, look at the array, the roof and the access, and price it before starting.
We clean the glass, clear under the rows, clear the gutter below and check the area.
Monkeys Roofing cleans solar arrays across the Inner West and the rest of Sydney. We handle the glass and the roof around it; electrical work stays with a licensed installer.
It does. On a steep roof rain carries a fair amount of the dust and litter away. On a low-pitch rear extension it sits there, which is why the grime band along the lower edge of the panels builds up faster here.
No. We clean the glass and clear the debris around the array. Isolators, wiring and inverters are work for a licensed solar installer or electrician.
Not usually, but the access might be. Where reaching the array means crossing a shared roofline or going through a neighbour’s property, that has to be arranged before the day.
If there is a dark band along the bottom of the panels or leaf matter packed underneath, the array is not doing what it could. Call 0452 223 327 or send the form for a free on-site quote.
Newtown · Enmore · Erskineville · Camperdown · Marrickville · Dulwich Hill · Petersham · Stanmore · Lewisham · Leichhardt · Lilyfield · Rozelle · Balmain · Birchgrove · Glebe · Annandale · Ashfield · Summer Hill · Haberfield · St Peters
Also servicing surrounding Inner West suburbs. See our Inner West roofing page, or how we handle solar panel cleaning across Sydney.
Australian standards and Code requirements we work to, with the source for each.
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
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
Last updated: 13 August 2026
Quoting solar panel cleaning in the Inner West is not the same job as quoting it elsewhere in Sydney. Only four roofing materials are allowed in Haberfield: The DCP limits replacement roofing to unglazed terracotta Marseilles tiles, terracotta shingle tiles, Welsh slate, or non-reflective corrugated galvanised steel, and the steel only at the… That is the kind of detail that changes the materials, the timing and the paperwork on a roof in Haberfield or the streets around it. Everything below links to the council or standard it comes from, so you can check it yourself.
The DCP limits replacement roofing to unglazed terracotta Marseilles tiles, terracotta shingle tiles, Welsh slate, or non-reflective corrugated galvanised steel, and the steel only at the rear or on skillion roofs. Finials and ridge capping have to be kept and reinstated.
Source: Inner West DCP 2016, Chapter E2, controls C17-C21The Marrickville Valley flood study found 3,989 properties taking more than 150mm of water in a 1 per cent storm, and 3,151 properties still flooded to that depth in a storm as common as a 2 year event. Flat ground and slow drainage are the cause, so undersized downpipes and blocked gutters bite in ordinary rain.
Source: Inner West Council, Marrickville Valley Flood StudyIn the Dobroyd and Hawthorne Canal catchments, 885 of 1,446 and 690 of 1,036 flood planning lots are affected by overland flow alone. Where your roof water is discharged, and whether it is piped properly to the kerb, matters more than how close you are to a watercourse.
Source: Inner West Council, Dobroyd and Hawthorne Canal FRMSP 2020Haberfield does not permit skylights on the front or side of the main roof and does not permit dormers at all. Hot water and solar tanks cannot sit on the roof either: they go inside the roof space or out of public view.
Source: Inner West DCP 2016, Chapter E2, controls C11-C15 and C89The whole suburb is a conservation area, recognised as Australia first planned garden suburb, with a period of significance from about 1900 to the 1940s. In practice almost every roof job in Haberfield is a heritage job.
Source: Inner West Council, C54 Haberfield HCAWe cover Haberfield, Ashfield, Summer Hill, Croydon, Leichhardt, Annandale, Balmain, Rozelle, Lilyfield, Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Petersham, Stanmore, Newtown, Enmore, St Peters, Tempe, Sydenham and Lewisham.
The DCP limits replacement roofing to unglazed terracotta Marseilles tiles, terracotta shingle tiles, Welsh slate, or non-reflective corrugated galvanised steel, and the steel only at the rear or on skillion roofs. Finials and ridge capping have to be kept and reinstated.
The Marrickville Valley flood study found 3,989 properties taking more than 150mm of water in a 1 per cent storm, and 3,151 properties still flooded to that depth in a storm as common as a 2 year event. Flat ground and slow drainage are the cause, so undersized downpipes and blocked gutters bite in ordinary rain.
In the Dobroyd and Hawthorne Canal catchments, 885 of 1,446 and 690 of 1,036 flood planning lots are affected by overland flow alone. Where your roof water is discharged, and whether it is piped properly to the kerb, matters more than how close you are to a watercourse.
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