House painting in Milford

Baches, group-built homes and coastal architecture

The North Shore Heritage review notes that holidaymakers built baches at Milford once transport improved. Its companion volume records that in the 1960s and 70s building boom, one of the big group-home builders concentrated on the Milford area. Many Milford streets still reflect that era.

The review also names Kitchener Road, Ocean View, Muritai, Tiri and Audrey Roads for architect-designed houses on the roads that run down to the water, and notes a wave of large new houses on beachfront sites from the 1980s. So Milford mixes plain 1960s timber homes with more complex modern houses.

• 1960s and 70s homes: weatherboard or mixed cladding, aluminium or timber joinery, presumed lead in older coats.
• Architect-designed houses: varied materials and details, often two storeys.
• Former baches, where they survive: small, simple and often much altered.

Beach and marina

Milford Beach is one of the North Shore’s main coastal spaces, and the heritage review notes the Milford Marina was created in the early 1970s. Houses facing the beach or the marina are closer to salt water than those a few blocks back, and the building standard’s sea-spray zone follows that distance site by site. More in the guide to paint life.

Houses near the beach and the marina get more salt on sheltered walls, which is worth washing off each year. Weatherboard homes are covered on weatherboard and villa painting.