Water, mostly
A tidal creek
Mordialloc Creek is tidal and unusually wide where it meets the bay beside the pier. Until the Patterson River drain was dug in 1879, its water came from the Carrum Swamp.
Floods on record
Victorian Places says bad floods in 1934 led to the creek being artificially blocked, which brought silting and pollution.
Two kinds of flood overlay
Kingston uses a Land Subject to Inundation Overlay for major floods from open watercourses, with Melbourne Water as the authority, and a Special Building Overlay for overland flow paths.
Brick veneer, then townhouses
The early housing is mainly modest brick veneer, with bigger houses along Beach Road. Over 400 dwellings went up between 2001 and 2006, mostly on the old Epsom Training Track, and at the 2021 Census 45.6% of occupied dwellings were semi-detached or townhouses.
Bay salt
BlueScope lists Port Phillip from Altona to Portsea as exposed salt water, so steel near Beach Road needs choosing with care.
Getting rain off the roof and away from the house
Melbourne's heavy showers often fall in narrow bands over the same places, usually the south-eastern suburbs. When they do, a gutter that's half full of leaves or sloping the wrong way spills over the fascia and down the wall, or back into the eaves.
The fixes are mostly simple. More in gutter replacement in Melbourne.
On the townhouses, valleys and box gutters between roofs carry a lot of water into small outlets, so they're worth a look in any inspection. If you're planning an extension or a bigger roof on flood-overlay land, check with Kingston before you design it.
Safe to do yourself, and better left to a roofer
You can
- During heavy rain, watch from a window where gutters overflow
- Check that downpipes empty into a drain that isn't blocked at ground level
- Look up your property on the council planning maps for flood overlays
- Keep a record of any water coming inside, with dates
Leave to a roofer
- Cleaning gutters on two-storey townhouses
- Re-setting gutter falls and adding overflows
- Clearing or relining box gutters and valleys
- Replacing rusted gutters in a salt-suited steel
Where we'd start in Mordialloc
We'd have a roofer watch where the water goes, not just where it drips, then sort the gutters, outlets and downpipes before touching the roof itself. Near the beach, we'd replace rusted gutters with a steel rated for exposed salt water, and keep the paperwork.
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.
