Bay, surf or bush: where does your house sit?
Near Corio Bay
BlueScope measures from the high water mark and sorts salt water into surf, exposed and calm. Its TB-35 table puts the Geelong coastline in the calm group, where COLORBOND Classic and Matt have no minimum distance while ZINCALUME, Metallic and Coolmax want more than 100 m. The Bellarine Peninsula is listed as exposed and treated like surf. Your roof plumber should tell you which group they've used and why.
Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads and the Bass Strait side
Here it's surf. ZINCALUME, Metallic, Coolmax, Classic and Matt all want more than 200 m from breaking surf. COLORBOND Ultra goes to more than 100 m and is recommended for severe sites about 100 to 200 m back. Within 100 m, BlueScope recommends SUPERDURA Stainless. Exposed water, which is how BlueScope lists the Bellarine Peninsula, carries the same distances.
Torquay, Jan Juc and the bush fringe
The 1983 Ash Wednesday fire reached Jan Juc, Torquay and Bellbrae. Land in Victoria's Bushfire Management Overlay needs a Bushfire Management Plan, and its Bushfire Attack Level sets the construction standard. That standard can affect the materials used on new roofing work.
Geelong West's older houses
Most houses here are single-storey timber, with gutters fixed to timber fascias. When flashings or gutters need replacing, ask for profiles that suit the house rather than whatever is quickest, and get the fascia checked while the gutter is off.
What a Geelong roof plumber does
Roof plumbing covers metal roof sheeting, gutters and downpipes, flashings around chimneys, skylights and walls, valleys, box gutters and rainwater heads. If water is getting in at a join rather than through a tile, it's usually roof plumbing work. For plumbing work worth $750 or more, the plumber must give you a compliance certificate, so ask for it.
The coastal rules apply to the whole system, sheets and all. Flashings, gutters and fixings sit in the same salt air, so ask that they're chosen for the same exposure. BlueScope also says stainless steel, lead and copper must not be used with COLORBOND or ZINCALUME gutters and downpipes, and that copper-rich run-off from a hot water overflow corrodes its steel, so the details matter as much as the sheets.
What to ask a Geelong roof plumber
- How far is my house from the high water mark, and which BlueScope product does that call for?
- Are you treating my site as calm, exposed or surf, and why?
- Is my land in a Bushfire Management Overlay, and does that change what you'd use?
- Will the flashings, gutters and screws suit the same exposure as the sheets?
- Can I see your Building and Plumbing Commission identification card?
Where we'd start
Ask every roof plumber to write down the product they're quoting and the distance to the water they measured. Two Geelong quotes that look far apart are often pricing different steel. On the Bass Strait side, we'd follow BlueScope's recommendation for the site even when it costs more. Near the Geelong waterfront, which BlueScope rates as calm, we'd want to see the reasoning before paying for stainless. More on the trade in roof plumbing.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.