Rockingham's coast, and what it means up top
Quiet water, still exposed
Cockburn Sound covers about 100 square kilometres, with Garden Island and Carnac Island along its western side, and Rockingham's main beach looks north onto it. Round the corner, the Safety Bay coast is known for windsurfing and kitesurfing.
How BlueScope classes the water here
BlueScope's TB-35 lists Cockburn Sound and Safety Bay as exposed, not calm, so the looser calm-water limits don't apply here. Exposed water has the same minimums as surf: Zincalume, Colorbond Metallic and Colorbond Classic and Matt all need more than 200 m, Colorbond Ultra more than 100 m, and SUPERDURA Stainless suits any distance. BlueScope calls its list a guide only, since shelter and height change things, so a roofer should still check your block.
Shacks, then villas, then towers
Lots were surveyed in 1847, but few sold until the railway and jetty came in 1872. Holiday shacks followed in the early 20th century, retirement villas of a modest scale by the 1970s, and more recently high-rise units on the old beachside shopping strip.
An older population
The 2021 Census put the median age at 49. 65.5% of occupied homes were separate houses, 20.1% townhouses or similar and 14.1% flats, and 13.9% of private dwellings were empty on census night.
What goes wrong on Rockingham roofs?
Near the water, salt settles on everything, and the parts the rain doesn't wash clean corrode first: the inside and underside of gutters, the screws, the flashings and the laps where sheets overlap. A good roofer checking a metal roof here looks at fixings and gutters as closely as the sheets.
Rockingham is flat and sandy, so steep blocks aren't the issue here. Corrosion and wind-lifted fixings are. See roof plumbing in Perth for gutter and flashing work.
If you're replacing a roof or gutters, settle the product before the colour. Colorbond roofing in Perth explains the job.
What you can handle, and what's a roofer's job
You can
- Rinse the underside of gutters and eaves with a hose, standing on the ground
- Look for rust streaks, lifting screws or white powder on the roof from a window or with binoculars
- Keep the ground under downpipes clear so water gets away from the house
- If you're in a unit block, ask the strata manager when the roof was last inspected
Leave to a roofer
- Replacing corroded screws, flashings or sheets
- Anything above gutter height
- Choosing the right coastal grade for a re-roof
- Checking whether older flat or corrugated sheeting is asbestos cement
Our take for Rockingham
If you're within a few streets of the water and your roof is metal, we'd have the fixings and gutters checked every few years, not just the sheets. And if you're re-roofing, we'd make the distance-to-water question the first thing you settle with the roofer, ahead of colour or price.
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.