Merrylands in brief
Built mid-century
The City of Parramatta notes subdivisions from the 1860s, then a big jump in building in the 1950s and 1960s, with many homes in Housing Commission developments.
Art deco centre
The shops around the station on Merrylands Road are mainly art deco buildings from the 1930s and 1940s.
A dense suburb
In 2021, 32,472 people lived in 9,926 homes: 48.8% houses, 36.6% flats and 13.6% semis or townhouses.
Endeavour Energy
Cumberland Council is in Endeavour's area. Outages: 131 003.
The asbestos backing board question
Black or dark brown bituminous backing boards made before 1987 can contain asbestos. Some carry brand names such as Lebah, Zelemite, Miscolite or Ausbestos, and there may be a warning sticker on the board or inside the meter box.
The board itself is non-friable, but some old fuses on it, including Federal fuses, may contain friable asbestos inside the fuse carrier. That's why changing a switchboard in a mid-century Merrylands house is a job for an electrician who handles these boards regularly.
What you can do, and what you can't
You can
- Look at the board without touching anything inside.
- Press the safety switch test buttons.
- Take a photo for the electrician.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- Drilling, cutting or taking out the backing board.
- Swapping fuses for circuit breakers.
- Adding safety switches or new circuits.
What we'd do in a Merrylands house
If your board looks dark and old, treat it as possibly containing asbestos until an electrician says otherwise. Don't screw anything to it, and don't let anyone work on it until they've told you how they'll manage it. We'll match you with a licence-checked electrician near Merrylands who does this work if we have one.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.