What's distinctive about Mount Waverley
Postwar estates
The population was just 464 in 1933. By 1950 the Housing Commission had acquired land for 2000 houses, and Pinewood's shops and the housing around them were an A.V. Jennings estate in the late 1950s. A few streets are older, including the 1930s Glen Alvie estate with its date palms.
Why it's called a mount
The suburb rises from a deep valley to the south, and land around the High Street Road reservoir sits at 138 to 150 metres. Flood retarding basins line the valley south of the station and Scotchmans Creek.
More flats than you'd expect
At the 2021 Census, 68.6% of occupied homes were separate houses and 21.5% were flats or apartments.
Bush in the reserves
Valley Reserve, Damper Creek Reserve and Federal Reserve all hold significant remnant native bushland, so homes backing onto them collect leaf litter in their gutters.
On the flood list
VICSES names Mount Waverley among Monash's at-risk locations, after riverine and flash flooding that included a significant event in 2005.
Where to start on an older home
The Housing Commission's postwar output included precast concrete houses and simple prefabricated weatherboard ones. Whatever the walls are, check what the roof, eaves and gutters are made of before work starts. ASSEA says a home built or renovated before 1990 probably has some asbestos, and only a NATA accredited lab can confirm it.
If the roof is old corrugated iron, the City of Monash treats replacing it with Colorbond as like-for-like, so no building permit is needed. Going from tiles to Colorbond is a different story and does need one.
On tiled roofs, cracked ridge mortar is the usual leak, and rebedding and repointing sorts it out.
Leave a possible asbestos roof alone
If the roof, eaves or gutters could be asbestos cement, don't drill, cut, water-blast or walk on them. Old asbestos sheeting turns brittle, and people have fallen through it doing maintenance. Have it tested, then use a licensed removalist or a roofer who knows how to work around it.
What we'd do
We'd find out what the roof is made of first, then have a roofer check the ridges, valleys and gutters and photograph what they find. In a block of flats, the owners corporation should organise roof work. For a house, send us the job and your postcode: it goes to one licence-checked roofer for Mount Waverley if we have one, and if not, we'll say so right then.
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.
