This architecturally designed home sits high above Gulf Harbour Marina, positioned to make the most of the water views below. The Cedar cladding wraps around three storeys on the north face, stepping down to a single storey on the more sheltered south side.
The new owners had bought the property only a year or so before contacting us, with restoring the Cedar always part of the plan. They weren’t sure if the timber could be saved or if it would need replacing altogether, so they wanted to speak with people who knew Cedar before deciding either way.
We were happy to have that conversation, and even happier with what we found.
Maintenance Timeline
TimberTech was first contacted on the 3rd of October, 2025.
- 6th October, 2025 – Cedar Assessment completed.
- 7th October, 2025 – Quote sent.
- 2nd December, 2025 – Job started.
- 22nd December, 2025 – Job completed.
The job took roughly three weeks from start to finish, with delays caused by rain and by the access equipment being unusable in high wind.
Cedar Assessment
The Cedar hadn’t been treated for at least ten years. It had likely been oiled at some point in the past, but there was no evidence of stain having ever been used, no patchiness or uneven colour of the kind you’d expect to see in sheltered areas if a stain had broken down.
By the time we arrived, the boards were grey, silvered and very dry, particularly on the exposed faces. There was some minor cupping starting to show, though nothing at an advanced stage yet.
The good news was the quality of the timber itself. These were thick boards with very few knots, a good grade of Cedar that holds up well even after years without maintenance.
The north face had taken the worst of it, closely followed by the west. The east side was dry and clearly needed treatment, but hadn’t cupped or ridged the way the north and west had. The south face, the smallest and most sheltered side of the house, was flatter again, though it still needed the same care.
Given how thirsty the boards were, our recommendation was a deep clean followed by oil, with two coats applied in the same visit. That’s not our usual approach. Normally one application is enough to saturate the boards, but it was obvious early on that this Cedar could take more, so we applied a second coat while the crew was still on site to get as much oil into the timber as possible.
Cedar Maintenance Process
The deep clean followed our standard process: a surfactant applied to lift the built-up organic matter, then we use a waterblaster at low pressure to wash it off without damaging the surface of the boards.
Because the Cedar had never been coloured, this was essentially a blank canvas. We worked with the homeowners to choose a colour that would bring out the timber’s natural tones, landing on Wood-X Mount Honey, one of the closest matches in our range to Cedar’s own colour. It’s a shade we often recommend to homeowners who want their Cedar looking like Cedar, rather than taking on a heavier stained appearance.
Application was a mix of spray and brush, with the large, flat sections of the house lending themselves well to spraying once conditions allowed.
There was also a feature section at the back of the house that had originally been painted white. It stood out more than the owners wanted, so we prepped, sanded and repainted it in a colour that ties in with the surrounding Cedar rather than competing with it.
Cedar Maintenance Challenges
The biggest challenge on this job was access. Getting a knuckle boom onto the site meant allocating a specially trained technician to operate it, along with a second person on the ground at all times. The boom covered the whole east-facing rear of the house and part of the north face, with a mobile scaffold used to reach other areas, and rope and harness work needed to paint sections of the roofline.
Weather was the other factor. Perched on an exposed hill above the marina, the property catches the wind, which meant timing the more exposed faces carefully around the conditions rather than working straight through.
Beyond that, this was simply a bigger job than most. The house is larger than many properties we work on, but the process itself, deep clean and oil, didn’t change. We just needed the right number of people on site to get through it in good time.
Ongoing Maintenance Requirements
We recommended returning within 6 to 9 months to check whether the boards needed more oil. When Cedar has gone untreated for a long time, getting as much oil into it as possible in those early stages extends how long it will last before the next full treatment is due.
We’ll check all the faces, though it’s the sun-exposed sides that are most likely to need a top-up. If the boards prove to have taken on enough oil, the property will move onto a standard maintenance plan. Rather than the usual 2-3 summer cycle, we like to check back in on properties like this a little more regularly, generally around the 18-month mark, just to make sure everything is holding up as expected.
The Final Outcome
The transformation exceeded the owners’ expectations. Like a lot of our customers, the biggest surprise came after the deep clean, before any oil had even gone on, just seeing how different the timber looked once the decade of grime had been washed away. Once the oil colour was chosen and applied, they were thrilled with the finish.
Ryan led the job, supported by Emma, who did a substantial amount of the work before going on maternity leave.
The scale of the transformation, from silvered and weathered to a warm, natural Cedar tone, is exactly why we chose to use this job to show what’s possible when Cedar gets the attention it deserves.
