Roof cleaning and house washing in Merewether

What does beach salt mean for Merewether's roofs and walls?

The suburb was part of the Burwood Estate and is named after its owner, Edward Christopher Merewether. Coal mining was the main industry, with the last pits closing in August 1954, and there were pottery works and brickyards as well. Dixon Park, Merewether and Burwood beaches line the coast, and the Merewether Ocean Baths are the largest ocean baths in the Southern Hemisphere.

The homes along Scenic Drive date from the late 1950s onwards. SafeWork NSW puts asbestos cement sheeting in common use from the 1940s until the late 1980s and rules out high-pressure water on it, so eaves and sheeting on houses of that age are cleaned only by soft washing at low pressure. Nearer the beaches, COLORBOND wants steel the rain cannot reach rinsed every six months, or more often where salt spray is heavy, and tiled or Colorbond roofs are given a roof soft wash. In 2021, 60.9% of homes were separate houses and 31.7% had four or more bedrooms.

Key figures

1885

Merewether incorporated as a municipality

1954

the last coal pits close

60.9%

of homes were separate houses in 2021

Sources

• Wikipedia, Merewether, New South Wales
• ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, Merewether
• SafeWork NSW, Asbestos
• BlueScope TB-4, maintenance of exterior coated steel (January 2021)
• NSW Spatial Services, Administrative Boundaries (postcode, council, distance, neighbours)