Roofers in Mitcham, Adelaide
Mitcham is the foothill suburb at the base of Belair Road, home to the City of Mitcham council offices, the Mitcham Shopping Centre and the old village around Mitcham Reserve. It is leafy, sloping and older than most of the south, with the Hills face climbing straight up behind it toward Belair.
What usually goes wrong on Mitcham roofs
- Terracotta ridge and hip mortar cracked on bungalows across the older foothill streets
- Leaf litter from creek-line and Hills-face trees blocking gutters and rusting valleys
- Corrugated iron on village-era cottages rusted at the laps and chimney flashings
- Concrete tiles on 1960s homes porous and mossy on the southern slopes
- Wind damage to caps and flashings on the exposed higher streets
Local notes from the roofers
Mitcham feels more like an eastern foothill suburb than a southern one, and its roofs behave that way. The old village around Mitcham Reserve still has stone cottages under corrugated iron with original chimneys, and the iron there has been re-sheeted more than once but the flashings and gutters often have not. Around them the streets are 1920s to 50s bungalows under terracotta tiles with cement-pointed ridges, and the reactive clay meeting the slope of the foothills moves those frames enough to crack the pointing within a few years of a cheap patch. Toward Belair Road and Brownhill Creek the trees are old and large, and the leaf litter from the creek line and the Hills face clogs gutters and holds moisture in valleys until the iron rusts from beneath. The higher streets take the full force of winter fronts coming across the plain, and cap and flashing damage after a storm is a regular call. The 1960s homes further down under concrete tiles have the usual porosity and moss on their shaded slopes. Some streets close to the Hills face fall within bushfire-prone areas.
Housing and roof types in Mitcham
Older stone cottages and villas under iron around the historic Mitcham village, 1920s to 50s bungalows under terracotta, and 1950s to 70s brick and brick veneer under terracotta and concrete tiles spreading across the foothills toward Belair Road and Brownhill Creek.
