Life on the Melton plain
Flat, open and windy
Melton is mostly flat, largely featureless former volcanic plain, with little to break the wind. Ahead of cold fronts, Melbourne's north-westerlies can reach gale force, and the big storm of 6 March 2010 reached Melton at 2:25 pm.
Hot and dry
The Otway Ranges rain shadow means less rain than Melbourne, and the town has a strong urban heat island effect. Melton City Council lists heatwaves, fires and bushfires, storms and floods among the emergencies the city is prone to.
A 1970s satellite town
Melton was declared a satellite city in 1974 and quadrupled from 4491 people in 1971 to 18,055 in 1981, with the Housing Commission among the builders. Melton and its suburbs had 45,624 people by 2011.
Brick and tile
New brick housing dominates the landscape, some of it McMansion-sized. Wikipedia's survey of house styles says McMansion roofs are always hipped or gabled and tiled.
The township itself
The suburb of Melton is the original township: 7,953 people and 3,537 private dwellings in 2021. 83.3% of occupied homes were separate houses and 34.4% were rented.
What heat and wind do to roofs here
Loose ridge caps and tiles. Strong gusts find loose caps and tiles first. If the mortar under them has cracked, rebedding and repointing is the fix.
Faded coatings. If it's only the look that's gone, roof painting in Melbourne is an option. On concrete tiles, Monier says a repaint needs redoing every five years or so to keep the look.
A roof space that cooks. Ventilation and insulation can make a real difference on a hot plain. See roof ventilation and our roof insulation guide.
Gutters before storm season. Overloaded gutters caused most of the damage to about 2,000 Melbourne homes in the March 2010 storm.
What you can check, and what to leave
You can
- After a windy night, scan the roof from the street for lifted or missing tiles and caps
- Check ceilings for new stains after the first big autumn rain
- Clear gutters you can reach safely from a ladder on firm, level ground
Leave to a roofer
- Re-fixing or replacing loose tiles and ridge caps
- Rebedding and repointing
- Any repair after a storm, once the wind has dropped
If we lived in Melton
We'd have the ridges and any loose tiles checked in spring, before the hot northerlies and summer storms. A cosmetic recoat can wait until the basics are sound. If you back onto open grassland, keep the gutters clear right through the fire season too.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.
