Cool, damp, heavily lichened
Southern Highlands
The Southern Highlands has the oldest and most interesting brickwork we work on, and the heaviest lichen problem in our entire service area. The cool, damp climate that makes the gardens up here so good does the same thing for everything growing on the walls.
- 4 suburbs covered
- Think Brick accredited
- Based Warilla
Suburbs
Where we work across the Southern Highlands
Bowral
Bowral has the best residential brickwork in our service area and the least competent competition for cleaning it. The Federation and inter-war houses through the older streets, the churches and the commercial buildings along Bong Bong Street are exactly the fabric that a standard acid-and-pressure clean ruins..
Bowral details2575Mittagong
Mittagong is the one Highlands town where we do both ends of the work regularly. Renwick and the newer releases produce genuine new-build brick cleaning demand, while the older township, Welby and Braemar have the porous pre-war brick and heavy lichen that the rest of the Highlands is known for..
Mittagong details2577Moss Vale
Moss Vale is the agricultural heart of the Highlands and the work reflects it: as much rural property as township, and a lot of stone. Farm buildings, stables, machinery sheds, dry stone and mortared boundary walls, and the substantial older homesteads on land around the town..
Moss Vale details2578Bundanoon
Bundanoon is a small heritage village surrounded by bushland and gorge country, and both of those shape the work. The older buildings through the village need conservation-appropriate methods, and almost every property sits under enough tree canopy to grow serious moss..
Bundanoon detailsLocal conditions
What the Southern Highlands does to masonry
Elevation changes everything
At 600–700 metres the Highlands is several degrees cooler than the coast with far more dew and fog. Walls stay wet for hours longer, and that is all lichen needs.
Genuinely old brickwork
Much of the housing stock through Bowral, Mittagong and Moss Vale predates the Second World War, and a good deal of it is nineteenth century. Soft lime mortar and hand-made brick rule out acid and pressure.
Frost and freeze-thaw
Frost is normal here. Water sitting in porous brick or an open mortar joint expands as it freezes, which is why aggressive cleaning that opens up a surface causes damage that only shows up the following winter.
Quick answer
Why does masonry in the Southern Highlands grow so much lichen?
The Southern Highlands sits at roughly 600 to 700 metres elevation, giving it cooler temperatures, higher humidity, heavy dew and frequent fog compared with the coast below. Masonry surfaces stay damp for far longer after rain, and lichen and moss thrive in exactly those conditions. Mature garden canopy and the region’s substantial stock of nineteenth and early twentieth century brick, which is more porous than modern brick, compound the effect.
Services
What we do in the Southern Highlands
- Brick Cleaning
- Acid Washing
- New Homes & Builders
- Heritage Brick
- Sandstone Cleaning
- High Pressure Cleaning
- Soft Washing
- Roof Cleaning
- Concrete Cleaning
- Driveway Cleaning
- All Hard Surfaces
- Tile Cleaning
- Timber Deck Cleaning
- Fence Cleaning
- Graffiti Removal
- Paint Removal
- High-Rise Buildings
- Rail Infrastructure
- Commercial & Strata
- Truck & Machinery
Stain removal
Stains we treat here
Next step
Working across the Southern Highlands every week
Call 0448 882 780 for a free quote, or send photos and we will price it from those where we can.