Cladding & Weatherboards In Caulfield

Targeted repair is dramatically cheaper, which is exactly why we look before we quote. Replacing a handful of rotted boards around a window or under a leaking gutter, including profile matching and repainting, is usually a job measured in hundreds to low thousands of dollars. A full re-clad of an elevation runs into the tens of thousands once you count scaffolding, removal and disposal, sarking, new boards and painting. The trap is paying for a re-clad you did not need, and the opposite trap is patching over a cause that puts you back in the same position in two years. We price both options where both are viable and show you what we found.

A localised repair of a few boards is normally a one to two day job including the profile match and the first coat. A full elevation takes one to two weeks depending on height, access and how much structural repair turns up once the boards come off. Painting adds time after that, and Melbourne weather has a real say in it because we will not put a topcoat on damp timber. We give you a working-day estimate at quote stage and tell you as soon as anything on site is going to change it.

Yes, and it matters more than people realise in this part of Melbourne. Glen Eira, Stonnington, Bayside and Port Phillip all carry heritage overlays across significant residential precincts, and a repair in the wrong profile is visible from the street forever. We identify the existing profile, whether it is bullnose, chamfered, shiplap or rusticated, and source or have run a matching board rather than fitting whatever the yard has. Where a property sits in a heritage overlay we will tell you at quote stage what that means for approvals. If your street is in the Elsternwick interwar precinct or one of the Stonnington estates, assume it applies.

We open a small section first so we can see what we are dealing with before committing you to a scope. What we find most often is moisture damage to the studs behind the failure point, no insulation at all in older homes, and rot around window frames and external corners. None of it is unusual and none of it is a disaster. We photograph it, price the additional work, and send it to you for approval before we carry on, so the first you hear about it is not on the invoice. While the wall is open we can install insulation batts and repair window frames without replacing whole windows, which is far cheaper now than as a separate job later.

Because the paint stopped doing its job. Most exterior coatings last around five years, and once the film fails the timber starts absorbing moisture and rot follows. The places it starts are predictable: window sills and trims, external corners, anywhere under a leaking gutter or downpipe, and box gutter discharge points where water is being dumped against a wall. Poor drainage at ground level and boards sitting in contact with soil or a concrete slab do the same thing from below. This is why we always find and fix the water source, because a new board in a wet wall is a new board that rots.

If the house is in a heritage overlay or a period streetscape, timber weatherboard in the matching profile is usually the only answer that will not look wrong and will not create an approval problem. Fibre cement is the practical middle ground for a re-clad on a non-heritage house: it is dimensionally stable, does not rot, holds paint well, and comes in profiles that read as weatherboard from the street. Aluminium is the low-maintenance option and suits contemporary designs, but it dents and it looks like what it is. Cost, exposure and whether your street has an overlay decide this far more than personal taste, and we will walk you through it on site.