Your house might look over the water at Toronto, sit a short walk from the channel at Swansea or back onto the bush behind Cardiff. Corella Painting works as a painter in Lake Macquarie on both shores of the lake, from a base in Adamstown that's ten minutes from Cardiff and under half an hour from the far side.
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Around Lake Macquarie the water does more to your paint than the weather does, and it's salt water on both sides of the house.
Lake Macquarie is a city built around a lake, and the houses change as you go round it. On the eastern side, Belmont sits on a sandy strip between the lake and the Tasman Sea, and Swansea sits where the lake runs out to the ocean through the Swansea Channel. On the western shore, Toronto grew up around a town subdivided in 1887, with the lake at the end of its main street. Inland at the top, Cardiff straddles Winding Creek and runs into one of the Hunter's big light-industrial estates. The council's seat is at Speers Point, at the northern end of the lake.
Lake Macquarie is a big place to cover from one base, and the lake sits in the middle of it. The eastern suburbs, Belmont and Swansea among them, are straight down the Pacific Highway from Adamstown. The western shore, Toronto and the bays around it, is the other way, round the top of the lake through Speers Point. Cardiff is the closest of the lot, ten minutes out by Park Avenue and Myall Road.
So we plan the week by shore. A crew working at Belmont isn't driving to Toronto in the afternoon, and you aren't paying for the time it would take.
Most people think of salt as a beach problem. Around here the lake itself is salt water, and the eastern suburbs get the ocean as well. On a house that faces the water, salt settles on everything, draws in moisture and breaks the paint down from the outside.
Lakefront houses have a second problem: damp. Walls and decks that face the water stay wet for longer after rain, and the shady sides grow mould under the paint. A Lake Macquarie repaint starts with a wash to take the salt off and a mould treatment on any wall that needs it, then the paint goes on dry timber and clean render.
If you've read about heritage rules in Newcastle, Lake Macquarie works differently. The council names three heritage conservation areas: West Wallsend and Holmesville, Teralba, and Catherine Hill Bay. Cardiff, Belmont, Toronto and Swansea sit outside all three, so for most houses there, heritage isn't the first question.
The catch is individual heritage items. The council lists houses, cottages, churches and other buildings one by one, and works to a listed item need a Local Exemption Application or a development application. Before we quote a change of colour on an older house, we check your address against the list. On foreshore land, flood planning matters more than heritage does.
Each one gets its own page: the houses, what the weather does to paint there, the council rules and the jobs we do most.
Hardwood decks over the water, cleaned back and dried out before they're oiled or stained, with the balustrades repainted first.
Decks and fences in Lake MacquarieRendered panels, painted walls, doors and the timber around the windows, washed of salt and mould first. Where a house is mostly brick, the trims are the job, and the brick stays bare.
Exterior house painting in Lake MacquarieFaded Colorbond washed by hand and keyed, rust brushed back and primed with a zinc-rich primer, because BlueScope's own guide says salt marine sites may need extra corrosion resistance.
Roof painting in Lake MacquarieOffices, showrooms and units near the Cardiff industrial estate, painted after hours or over a weekend so the business keeps trading, and quoted per job.
Commercial and strata painting in Lake MacquarieYes. The eastern suburbs are an easy run down the Pacific Highway from Adamstown, and the western shore is round the top of the lake through Speers Point. We plan the week so the crew works one side at a time, which keeps travel off your job.
Only if you're at West Wallsend, Holmesville, Teralba or Catherine Hill Bay, which are the three areas the council names. Outside them, the council lists heritage items one building at a time, so we look your address up before any colour changes on the street front.
There's no travel line on our quotes. As a guide from our own jobs, a single-storey exterior comes to $9,000 to $18,000 + GST on either shore. What moves the price is the house: its size, the state of the old paint and how much salt and mould has to come off first.
It means the lowest boards, posts and deck bearers take the water first. We check for soft timber and make sure the bottom of the house is dry before any paint goes on. Rotten timber gets replaced, never painted over.
Hairline cracks in render and mortar we rake out, fill and seal before painting. A crack that keeps opening needs looking at first, by a builder or an engineer. Subsidence Advisory NSW lists several mine subsidence districts with Lake Macquarie or Swansea in their names, so it's worth checking your address with them.
Yes, right around the lake. Warners Bay and Valentine fit into our eastern and northern weeks, and Rathmines sits just past Toronto on the western shore. Give us your street and we'll book the quote visit for a day we're already nearby.
A few lines and a photo or two is enough. We'll ring to book a look, then leave you a written quote with every surface and every coat on it. No obligation, and no follow-up calls chasing you if you decide to wait a while longer.