Your Belmont house probably has a deck that faces the lake, and walls that catch the salt off the ocean on the other side. Corella Painting is a painter Belmont homeowners book for both, from Adamstown, about seventeen minutes away down the Pacific Highway.
NSW contractor licence Lic. 000000C (demo)
Belmont sits on a strip of sand with water on both sides, so a deck here has to stand up to the sun off the lake and the salt off the sea.
Belmont is on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie, on a sandy peninsula with the lake on one side and the Tasman Sea on the other. It's one of the oldest places around the lake: Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld set up a mission here in 1825. Today the town runs along the Pacific Highway, with Belmont Hospital on Croudace Bay Road and the sailing club on the water. Many houses here face the lake or sit within a few streets of it, and a lot of them have a timber deck, a balustrade or a jetty rail that cops the weather harder than the house does.
One of our sample jobs is a deck and balustrade in Belmont, done before summer. The deck was hardwood, and we cleaned it back first. Then we left the boards to dry out for two full days, because oil only soaks into timber that's dry right through, and a deck oiled too soon goes blotchy and wears off in patches.
While the boards dried, the balustrades and posts were repainted in gloss white. Doing them first meant any drips landed on timber that was still to be oiled. Then the oil went on, working back towards the steps so nobody walked on the fresh finish, and the deck was ready for the warm weather.
If your deck faces the lake, plan for it the same way. Spring is the time to book it, before the summer heat and the first of the storms.
Belmont is built on a sandy peninsula, Lake Macquarie to the west and the Tasman Sea to the east, and the lake is salt water as well. So a Belmont house gets salt on its lake side and its ocean side. Decks and balustrades show it first, because they sit out in the open with nothing over them: the oil goes grey and dry, and steel rails bubble wherever the coating has been knocked.
The walls of the house wear more slowly, but the order of work is the same. Salt comes off first, with a wash, because paint put over salt lifts. The deck and its rails are done before the house walls beside them, so no drips land on fresh oil. On a house with a deck and walls to do, we quote each separately, so you can do the deck this spring and the house next year if that suits you better.
Our base is in Adamstown, about seventeen minutes from Belmont by the Inner City Bypass and the Pacific Highway. On a deck job, that matters more than you'd think. We can come down to check the boards are dry before we commit to oiling, rather than guessing from the forecast, and come back the next morning if a shower has gone through.
Decks cleaned back to bare timber, left to dry out for as long as the boards need, then oiled or stained so the finish soaks in. Gaps cleared so water can drain through.
Decks and fences in BelmontTimber balustrades and posts sanded and repainted in gloss, steel rails brushed back where rust has started and primed before the top coats, all done before the deck is oiled.
Decks and fences in BelmontWalls, eaves and window frames washed of salt before any prep starts, bare timber primed, and two coats on the side facing the water, which is always the first to chalk.
Exterior house painting in BelmontAs a guide from our own jobs, a deck cleaned and oiled or stained runs $35 to $60 a square metre + GST. The lower end is a sound deck that only needs a clean and a coat. The upper end is a big lakefront deck with grey, weathered boards, old finish to strip and balustrades to repaint as well.
Because oil can't soak into wet timber. On a sample Belmont deck and balustrade done before summer, the boards dried out for two days after cleaning before the oil went on. If it rains in between, we wait again. A deck oiled while it's damp goes patchy and wears through in a season.
Before. On that sample job the balustrades and posts were repainted in gloss white first, so any drips landed on boards that were still to be cleaned and oiled. Then the deck was done last, working back towards the steps so nobody had to walk on the new finish.
Usually the side facing the water you can see from the house, and the one that takes the afternoon sun. With the lake on one side of the peninsula and the ocean on the other, salt reaches both sides. We wash the whole house before painting and put the extra prep on the walls that have chalked the most.
The Marks Point and Belmont South Local Adaptation Plan is the council's plan to reduce the risk from flooding and permanent tidal inundation over the coming decades. For a paint job, it's a reminder that low posts, bearers and bottom boards can take water, so we check them for rot and only paint timber that's dry.
It does. In NSW, a contractor licence is needed to do or contract for residential painting over $5,000 in labour and materials, including GST. Our licence number is on every quote, and the quote lists the deck and the house separately so you can see what each part costs.
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.