Driveway sealing in Mosman

A Mosman driveway is seldom level. From Military Road and the streets off it, drives fall toward garages cut in under houses above Balmoral, Mosman Bay and Pearl Bay, sometimes with a bend halfway down. Rebuilt and renovated homes favour exposed aggregate and coloured concrete; older houses have brick pavers, sandstone flagging and paths that match the house base. All of them sit under fig trees, gums and jacarandas that drop tannin-rich leaves, and the shaded lower sections grow black algae that turn glassy in rain. Oil spots, tyre scuffs and the white bloom of efflorescence on pavers finish the list of things a sealer is asked to prevent or hide.

On a slope, slip resistance is the first conversation a vetted tradie should have. A penetrating sealer leaves the surface texture as it is; a film-forming sealer deepens colour and adds sheen but needs an anti-slip additive on anything steep. Sandstone gets a breathable penetrating product so moisture can leave the stone. Before any of that, the drive is cleaned with a pressure washer and surface cleaner, and because Mosman's gutters feed straight into the harbour, that detergent-laden water is contained and sent to garden or sewer, not down the kerb, as NSW pollution law requires. Sealing waits for dry concrete, no dew and no rain in the forecast, which on a shaded drive can mean a patient tradie.

Photograph the drive from the garage looking up and from the street looking down, and add its rough length, the surface type and how much of it sits in shade. Vetted tradies who seal driveways around Mosman receive the job and quote you in writing: the clean, any stain treatment, the product, the coats and how long to stay off it. Homeowners owe nothing for the match and can decline all comers. A driveway shared by a block of flats belongs to the owners corporation, whose approval comes first. In a conservation area, choose a finish that keeps sandstone and old paving looking as they do from the street.