Expert Painters

Painters in Sandringham: Interwar Brick, Tile Roofs and Cliff-Top Exposure

24 Oct

The most common painting question in Sandringham is not about colour. It is whether to paint the brickwork.

Sandringham is largely an interwar suburb: Californian bungalows, 1920s and 1930s brick homes, clinker and red brick, tile roofs, with weatherboard and newer builds mixed through. A large share of those houses still have their original unpainted brick, and at some point almost every owner considers covering it.

Painting face brick is a one-way decision

It can look very good. Done properly it is also permanent in practice, and that is the part worth sitting with before committing.

Unpainted brick is maintenance-free. It does not need recoating, it does not peel, and if a wall gets damaged the repair can be matched. Once it is painted, none of that is true any more. The wall joins the maintenance cycle for the rest of the building’s life, and getting paint off brick without damaging the face of the brick is difficult, expensive and often not fully achievable.

There are also technical conditions that have to be met for it to last:

  • The brickwork has to be sound, with no active moisture movement through it
  • Mortar joints need repointing first where they have failed, not after
  • The coating has to be vapour-permeable, so the wall can still dry outwards
  • Weepholes and air vents must stay clear and must not be painted over
  • Any salt deposits have to be dealt with first, because they will come back through

That last point matters in Sandringham more than inland. Where you see white crystalline bloom on a brick wall, something is moving moisture through it, and painting is the wrong next step. Our guide to efflorescence explains what it is and what to do first.

If the brickwork is in good order and the owner understands the maintenance they are taking on, it is a legitimate choice and we will do it well. If someone is painting brick to hide a damp problem, we will say so rather than take the job.

Cliff-top exposure along Beach Road

Sandringham sits higher than much of the bay, on sandstone cliffs between Hampton and Black Rock, and the elevated streets near Beach Road get noticeably more wind than the flat beachside suburbs further north.

Elevation means less shelter. Salt arrives drier and travels further inland, and wind-driven rain hits upper-level walls and window heads rather than running down them. On houses in those streets the failures show up first at:

  • Window and door heads on the seaward elevation
  • Fascia and barge boards, especially at mitred joints
  • Eaves linings where wind pushes moisture up underneath
  • Timber sills and the bottom rail of windows

These are small areas that cost little to maintain and a great deal to repair once rot is established. On a Sandringham exterior we check them specifically rather than quoting a flat rate for the whole house.

Tile roofs on interwar homes

Most original Sandringham houses have a terracotta or cement tile roof, and after eighty or ninety years a lot of them are at the point where something needs doing.

The honest position is that a tile roof does not usually need painting for protection. Terracotta in particular lasts indefinitely; it is the mortar bedding and pointing at the ridges and hips that fails, along with the occasional cracked tile. That is a repair job, and it is the one that actually prevents water damage.

Painting a cement tile roof is a different case and can be worth doing, both for appearance and because older cement tiles do become porous. What it should not be sold as is a repair. If the pointing has gone, paint over the top of it will not hold it together. We cover the distinction and the numbers in our guide to roof painting costs in Melbourne.

Weatherboard and the renovated middle ground

Sandringham also has a substantial stock of weatherboard homes, many of them extended at the rear with a modern addition in a different cladding altogether.

That mix is its own problem on a repaint, because the original boards, the new cladding, the aluminium or timber windows and the rendered section all take different preparation and often different products, while needing to read as one house when it is finished. Matching sheen across those surfaces is usually what makes or breaks the result. Our guide to weatherboard painting in Melbourne goes through the preparation side.

Heritage overlays

Sandringham is in the City of Bayside, and heritage overlays apply to some parts of the suburb and not others. Because painting original brickwork is exactly the kind of change an overlay controls, it is worth confirming your specific address with Bayside before deciding, rather than relying on what a neighbour was allowed to do.

What we do in Sandringham

  • Exterior repaints of interwar brick, weatherboard and renovated homes
  • Brick painting where the wall is suitable, with repointing and preparation done first
  • Fascia, barge board, eaves and window repair before painting
  • Roof painting on cement tile, and referral to repointing where that is the real issue
  • Interior repaints, including original cornices and picture rails
  • Shopfronts and commercial work on Station Street and Bay Road

We are based in Richmond, about thirty minutes from Sandringham, and we work the bayside run through Brighton, Hampton, Black Rock and Beaumaris.

Call 0404 330 332 or request a quote. If you are weighing up painting the brickwork, we will give you the straight answer on whether your wall is a good candidate.

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