Frequently Asked Questions

The full range of repairs that Adelaide roofs need. On tiled roofs that means replacing broken, slipped and porous concrete or terracotta tiles, rebedding and repointing ridge and hip capping, replacing rusted valley irons and fixing torn sarking. On metal roofs it means replacing rusted screws and corroded sheets, sealing laps, refixing sheets lifted by wind and treating surface rust. Across both it covers leak detection, flashings around chimneys, skylights, whirlybirds and solar mounts, gutters and downpipes, box gutters on villas, storm make-safe work and full restoration or replacement where a repair is no longer sensible. That covers 1880s iron-roofed villas in North Adelaide through to 2000s Colorbond estates in Mawson Lakes.

Cracked cement mortar on ridge and hip capping is the most common cause on any tiled roof built before the 2000s. Adelaide's hot summers expand the roof, winter rain soaks it, and reactive clay under the plains shifts the frame slightly, so rigid mortar cracks and water gets under the caps. After that come rusted valley irons, lifted or fatigued flashings around chimneys and penetrations, porous concrete tiles, torn or missing sarking, and gutters that have lost their fall and overflow back under the eaves. On metal roofs it is usually backed-out screws, rusted laps and sheets lifted by a northerly. The leak inside the ceiling is often a long way from the point where water gets in, which is why a proper inspection comes first.

Usually, yes. Most Adelaide roof leaks come down to one or two failed components: a ridge that needs rebedding, a valley that has rusted through, a flashing that has lifted, a handful of cracked tiles, or screws that have backed out. Each of those is a repair, not a replacement. Replacement only becomes the right answer when the roof covering itself has failed across the whole roof, such as concrete tiles porous through their full thickness, a discontinued tile profile that cannot be matched, sheets rusted through rather than surface-rusted, or rotted battens. The roofer inspects first, tells you which situation you are in, and puts the options in writing before anything starts.

Yes. When a front comes through and a ridge cap lifts or a branch comes down, the first visit is a make-safe: tarping the opening, screwing down a loose sheet, resetting a dislodged cap or clearing debris so that no more water gets in. When you call, describe what you can see from the ground and what is happening inside, and you will be given an honest arrival window rather than a promise nobody can keep when the same storm has hit every suburb at once. The make-safe is priced as its own small job and the invoice is kept for your insurer. The permanent repair is inspected and quoted separately once the weather clears.

There is no published price list on this site, because an honest figure depends on what is wrong with your roof and how it is built. A cracked tile on a single-storey home in Edwardstown and a rusted box gutter between parapets on a two-storey villa in North Adelaide are very different jobs. The roof is inspected first, the quote is written and itemised, and nothing starts until you approve it. What changes the price is the type of repair, the tile or sheet type and whether it can be matched, the metres of ridge capping involved, the number of valleys and flashings, the height and pitch of the roof, the access and any scaffold or edge protection required, and whether you are near the coast or in the Hills.

A proper quote reads like a list of jobs rather than a single figure. It sets out the roof area and pitch as measured, the number of tiles or sheets to be replaced, the lineal metres of ridge and hip capping to be rebedded and repointed, each valley and flashing to be replaced or resealed, cleaning and any moss treatment, the coating system with the number of coats and whether a primer is included, gutters and downpipes if they are part of the job, the scaffold or edge protection required, waste removal, the workmanship warranty stated in writing, the licence number and insurance details. If a quote you have been given is missing any of those lines, ask for them in writing before comparing it with anyone else's.

Almost always because the quotes describe different amounts of work. One roofer has priced a clean and a coat. Another has walked the roof, counted the cracked tiles, measured the ridge capping, found a rusted valley and priced all of it. A third has quoted from an aerial photo without climbing up. The higher quote is often the one that has found the faults. Other honest reasons include the coating system chosen, whether scaffold is included, whether gutters are cleaned or replaced, and how much waste removal is allowed for. Before you look at the totals, line the quotes up item by item and make the scopes match. Where one quote leaves something out, ask why, and check the answer against what the other roofers found.

Any deposit or progress payment should be set out in the written quote or contract before you agree to anything, and it should be tied to stages of the work rather than demanded up front. In South Australia, building work above a certain contract value must be covered by a written contract under the Building Work Contractors Act, and a full restoration or replacement often falls into that category. Be cautious of anyone who wants a large cash deposit on the day, particularly door-knockers after a storm. A licensed roofer will give you the quote, the licence number and the payment terms in writing, and you can take the time to read them before work is scheduled.

A full restoration on a tiled roof starts with a high-pressure clean, then replacement of every broken or slipped tile, rebedding and repointing of the ridge and hip capping with fresh mortar and a flexible pointing compound, replacement of rusted valley irons and lifted flashings, treatment of moss and lichen, and finally a primer or sealer followed by two coats of a roof membrane. On a metal roof it means replacing rusted screws with new cyclone-rated screws, treating rust, sealing laps, then priming and coating. The order matters: the repairs come before the coating so that the finished roof is sound underneath, not just clean on top. Every one of those steps should appear as its own line on the quote.

No. Painting is the last step of a restoration, not a substitute for it. A restoration repairs the roof first: broken tiles, cracked ridge mortar, rusted valleys, lifted flashings. Painting alone applies a coating over whatever is there. On a roof whose ridges and valleys are sound and whose tiles simply look tired, a clean and coat is a reasonable cosmetic job. On a pre-2000s Adelaide roof with crumbling bedding, it hides the faults under a fresh colour until the next wet winter, when the leak comes through a coating that now has to be disturbed to find the cause. If a roofer offers to paint without inspecting the ridges and valleys first, ask why.

No. Restoration relies on the tiles still having enough surface for a primer and membrane to bond to, and on the battens and sarking underneath being sound. Concrete tiles that have eroded through their full thickness, terracotta tiles that are fretting and crumbling, and roofs whose profile is discontinued so that broken tiles cannot be matched are past that point. So are roofs where long-term leaks have rotted the battens. In those cases the honest advice is replacement or a tile to metal conversion, and a roofer who inspects properly should tell you so rather than sell a coating that will fail. Most 1960s to 1980s concrete tile roofs in Adelaide are still good candidates if the ridges and valleys are dealt with first.

Usually not. Terracotta tiles on interwar bungalows and 1950s to 60s homes in Unley, Burnside and Prospect have a fired glaze that does not erode the way a concrete surface does, so they clean up well and keep their colour. What they do need is the same structural work as any tiled roof: cracked tiles replaced, the ridge and hip capping rebedded and repointed, rusted valleys renewed and flashings resealed. Terracotta is brittle, so tiles cracked by hail or by installers walking on the roof are common. A terracotta job is therefore typically a repair and repoint rather than a full coated restoration, and the quote should reflect that rather than adding a membrane the tiles do not need.

When the roof covering itself has failed rather than a component of it. Signs include concrete tiles that have gone porous through their full thickness and crumble when handled, terracotta tiles fretting across the whole roof, a discontinued profile that cannot be matched so every repair uses mismatched tiles, metal sheets rusted through rather than surface-rusted, battens that have rotted under long-term leaks, sarking missing across the whole roof, and an asbestos cement roof at the end of its life. Another sign is repairs that keep coming back each winter in different places. The roofer inspects the whole roof, tells you which situation you are in, and puts both the repair option and the replacement option in writing where both are possible.

Many Adelaide homes built before the late 1980s, including Housing Trust homes in Elizabeth and Salisbury and pockets of the southern suburbs, have asbestos cement roofing or eaves. Removal of more than a small area must be carried out by a licensed asbestos removalist regulated by SafeWork SA, with its own wetting, wrapping, transport and disposal procedures and a clearance before the roofer can start on the new roof. It is never a DIY task and it is quoted as a separate item by a separate licence holder. If you are not sure what your roof is made of, say so when you call, and it will be checked during the inspection before any work is scoped.

Yes, and it is one of the most common re-roofing jobs on 1960s to 1980s concrete tile homes in suburbs like Marion, Modbury and Morphett Vale. The tiles are stripped, the battens are replaced at the spacing metal sheeting needs, the frame is checked, a foil-faced insulation blanket is laid, and the Colorbond sheets, flashings and ridge capping are fixed. The steel is far lighter than the tiles, so the frame rarely needs strengthening. New gutters and downpipes are usually done at the same time, and solar panels are removed and refitted by an installer. On villas in the inner suburbs that were originally under corrugated iron, the conversion is a return to the original look.

Most home policies cover sudden damage from storm, wind and hail, such as tiles cracked by hail, sheets lifted by wind or a branch through the roof, along with the water damage that follows inside. They generally do not cover wear and tear, rust, rotted timber, ridge mortar that has been cracking for years, or damage caused by poor maintenance such as a blocked gutter overflowing. Insurers ask for a roofer's written report with photos and an itemised quote, and make-safe tarping is usually done first. Read your own policy and its exclusions, and do not rely on anyone on your roof telling you what the insurer will pay, because no roofer can promise that.

Stay off the roof. Put buckets under drips, move furniture and electronics out of the wet area, and if water is near a light fitting, power point or the switchboard, turn the power off at the main switch before touching anything. Photograph the ceiling, the water, the damaged contents and whatever you can see of the roof from the ground, and note the time of the storm. If hail fell, photograph the stones beside something for scale. Then call for a make-safe so the opening is tarped or the loose sheet is secured, and keep that invoice. Lodge the claim with your photos, the make-safe invoice, the roofer's report and the itemised quote for the permanent repair.

Yes. After the make-safe, the roofer inspects the roof and prepares two documents insurers ask for: a written report describing the damage, stating the likely cause and including photos taken on the roof, and an itemised quote for the permanent repair listing tiles or sheets, metres of ridge capping, valleys, flashings, gutters, labour and access. The report is honest about the difference between storm damage and pre-existing wear, because an assessor will find that difference anyway and a report that overreaches weakens the whole claim. Whether you accept a cash settlement or an insurer-managed repair, the scope of works is put in writing before anything starts.

Yes. Building work, including roofing, is regulated by Consumer and Business Services (CBS). A roofing contractor must hold a Building Work Contractors Licence issued by CBS, and roof plumbing, which covers metal roof sheeting, gutters, downpipes, flashings and box gutters, is licensed plumbing work under the Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Electricians Act. You are entitled to ask for the licence number before any work starts, and you can check it yourself on the CBS public register. A licensed roofer will give the number without hesitation. The licence details of the roofing business servicing this site are published here as soon as they are confirmed. Unlicensed work can affect your insurance and leaves you without recourse if it fails.

Two kinds. Manufacturer warranties apply to the products used, such as Colorbond steel, tiles, membranes and pointing compounds, and they run on the manufacturer's terms. The roofer's own workmanship warranty covers how those products were installed, and it is stated in writing on the quote rather than promised on the phone. This site does not publish warranty periods because they vary by job and by product, and an invented figure would mislead you. What you should insist on is that the workmanship warranty, the products used and the scope of work all appear in writing before you approve the job, so that if a problem appears later there is no argument about what was agreed.

For work above a certain contract value, yes. The Building Work Contractors Act requires a written contract that sets out the parties, the scope of work, the price, the payment schedule and the timeframe, and full restorations, re-roofs and replacements often fall above that threshold. This site does not quote the exact figure because it is set by legislation and can change. For smaller repairs, a written, itemised quote that you approve before work starts serves the same purpose of putting the agreement on paper. Read the variations clause, check that deposits and progress payments are tied to stages of work, and keep a copy. A contractor who says a written contract is unnecessary on a large job is asking you to carry the risk.

The Adelaide metropolitan area, organised into six regions. Inner Adelaide covers the city, North Adelaide, Norwood, Unley, Prospect and Parkside. The Eastern Suburbs take in Burnside, Magill, Campbelltown, Payneham, Glen Osmond and Athelstone. The Southern Suburbs run from Mitcham, Marion, Edwardstown and Plympton down to Morphett Vale and Happy Valley. The Western and Coastal Suburbs include Glenelg, Henley Beach, Grange, Findon, Semaphore and Port Adelaide. The Northern Suburbs cover Modbury, Golden Grove, Salisbury, Mawson Lakes, Elizabeth and Gawler. The Adelaide Hills region includes Stirling, Aldgate, Mount Barker, Hahndorf, Blackwood and Belair. The service areas section lists each suburb with notes on its housing stock and roof types. If your suburb is not listed, call and ask.

Climate and ground. Summers regularly pass thirty-five degrees, so roofs expand and bake, then winter brings months of rain from south-westerly fronts. That cycle cracks rigid cement mortar on ridge capping, fatigues lead flashings and backs screws out of metal roofs. Underneath, much of the plain sits on reactive clay that swells in winter and shrinks in summer, shifting footings and roof frames enough to open gaps at flashings and pull gutters out of fall. Add thirty to forty years of surface erosion on the concrete tiles that dominate the southern and northern suburbs, salt air corroding metal along the coast, and leaf litter and moss in the Hills, and the common Adelaide failures follow: cracked pointing, porous tiles, rusted valleys and gutters, and lifted flashings.

Yes. Along the coast at Glenelg, Henley Beach, Semaphore and West Lakes, salt air corrodes unprotected metal, fasteners and gutters faster than inland, so coastal roofs need corrosion-resistant materials, the right fasteners, and more attention to laps, valleys and gutters. Roofs facing Gulf St Vincent also take the full force of south-westerly fronts. In the Hills at Stirling, Aldgate, Belair and Mount Barker, rainfall is higher, nights are colder, and stringybarks and deciduous trees drop heavy leaf litter that blocks gutters and valleys, while moss and lichen grow on shaded south-facing tiles. Bushfire-prone parts of the Hills carry Bushfire Attack Level requirements that affect roof materials, gutter guards and ember protection. The inspection and the quote reflect those local conditions.