Salt, glass and the real cost of a sea view

Every owner on the bluff arrives at the same maintenance calendar eventually, usually after one expensive surprise. It is not a long list and none of it is dramatic. It is simply relentless, and it is the honest cost of the view.

Glass is first. Seaward glazing on an exposed elevation needs a fresh-water rinse four to six times a year, and the seals want inspecting annually. Budget around eight hundred dollars a year for a house with a large glazed frontage, more if you want it done properly by someone with a ladder rated for the wind.

Metal is second. Anything ferrous within a hundred metres of the water is on a clock. Marine-grade stainless is not optional on fixings, and the houses that were built with it in 2015 look considerably better now than the ones that were not.

Timber is third and easiest. Silvered cedar and larch need nothing except leaving alone. Painted softwood needs repainting every four to five years on a seaward elevation and every eight on a sheltered one, which is a good argument for choosing the cladding before you choose the colour.

All in, a well-built exposed house on this coast costs somewhere between one and one and a half per cent of its value a year to keep in the condition it was sold in. A sheltered estuary house is closer to half of that. Neither figure surprises anyone who has owned a boat.