Another High-Rise Painting Project
Premium Strata manages 165 Maroubra Road, a residential building a short walk from Maroubra Beach. Buildings this close to the water age on a different timeline to buildings even a few kilometres inland, and the render here was showing exactly that. Cracking and delamination had set in across several elevations well ahead of where you’d expect for a building of this age, and the coating was chalking hardest on the faces taking the most direct onshore wind.
What Salt Exposure Does to a Facade Over Time
Salt-laden air doesn’t just sit on a coating, it works into it. Once it gets past the surface and into render that’s already carrying hairline cracks, the cycle of wetting and drying against that salt accelerates the breakdown rather than just adding to general wear. That’s the difference between a facade ageing and a facade failing early, and it’s the pattern we were looking at here before any work started.
Every section of cracked or delaminated render was removed back to a sound substrate. Patching over render that’s already compromised by salt ingress doesn’t hold, the new material won’t bond properly to a surface that’s still carrying moisture and contamination underneath. The replacement render system was matched for flexibility to the existing facade, so it moves with the building rather than cracking again at the join, and every repair was finished flush so there’d be no visible seam once the building was repainted.
Preparing a Coastal Facade for Repainting
Facade cleaning ahead of any coastal repaint has to do more work than removing surface dirt. Salt residue sits in the texture of render and old coating in a way general grime doesn’t, and if it’s not properly washed off before priming, it stays trapped under the new coating and keeps working against it from underneath. Every external surface here was washed back fully before repairs were sealed and primed.
The building’s height and the tight residential street it sits on meant scaffolding would have meant weeks of disruption to residents and neighbours for not much practical benefit. Working from rope access instead meant the team could move across every elevation, including the faces taking the worst of the exposure, without losing time to a scaffold build or leaving gaps in coverage where a fixed structure couldn’t quite reach.
The final coating system was chosen specifically for direct coastal exposure rather than a standard inland-grade product, since a facade this close to the water needs a system built to handle ongoing salt contact, not just UV.
The Result
The render defects that were letting moisture in are resolved rather than masked, and the building has a uniform finish again across every elevation, including the ones a less thorough job would have left undercooked. For Premium Strata, the practical outcome is a facade specified for what Maroubra’s coastal exposure will keep doing to it, not just for how the building looks on completion day.
Looking for Reliable Strata Painting and Render Repairs?
Next Level Painting works with strata managers and building owners across Sydney’s coastal suburbs on facade repairs and repainting, using rope access where it’s the better option for the site. Get in touch with our High-rise painting Sydney team to arrange an inspection.
