What Northcote's roofs are made of
Brick cottages from the 1880s
Cheap land in the 1880s brought cottages and row houses, built in brick rather than the timber used in neighbouring Collingwood.
The 1920s boom
The population nearly doubled after 1900 and doubled again in the 1920s. Many houses are double-fronted, or weatherboard California bungalows.
Brickworks and claypits
The Patent Brick Co claypit opened east of High and Separation Streets in 1873, and the Northcote Patent Brick Co ran three Hoffman kilns from 1886. Northcote Plaza now sits on the old quarry site.
Ruckers Hill and two creeks
Ruckers Hill slopes down to Merri Creek on the western edge, and Darebin Creek runs along the east. On a sloping block the back of the house can be a storey taller than the front, which changes how a roofer gets up safely.
Homes today
At the 2021 Census, 49.1% of occupied homes were separate houses, 27.4% terraces or townhouses and 22.8% flats.
Jobs that come up in Northcote
Terracotta repairs and restorations. Monier, a tile maker, lists cracked ridge mortar as a common cause of leaks, and on a Northcote roof the usual work is rebedding ridge caps, replacing broken tiles and fixing valleys. See terracotta roof restoration and rebedding and repointing in Melbourne.
Bungalow roofs. California bungalows have big gables and wide eaves, so gutters and gable flashings take a lot of water. Weatherboard houses from that era may have fibre-cement sheeting in the gables or eaves, and EPA Victoria says houses built before 1990 are likely to have some asbestos.
Heritage overlays. Darebin says you may need a planning permit to make changes to a house in a heritage overlay, and suggests talking to its heritage advisor first. In precincts like Gladstone Avenue (HO298), the exemption for domestic services doesn't cover equipment on a street-facing roof plane or above the ridge.
What you can do, and what needs a roofer
You can
- Check from the ground for slipped tiles and cracked ridge mortar after a storm
- Keep downpipe outlets and rainwater heads clear where you can reach them safely
- Ask Darebin whether your house is in a heritage overlay before planning roof changes
Leave to a roofer
- Any work on the roof itself, especially steep terracotta
- Gutters on a sloping block where the back wall is tall
- Anything involving gable or eave sheeting that might be asbestos
Our take for Northcote
If your terracotta is sound, keep it. We'd spend on rebedding, valleys and flashings before anything cosmetic, and replace only the tiles that are actually broken. In a heritage overlay, matching the original tiles is usually far simpler than arguing for a change.
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.
