What a Wollongong restoration is up against
Suburbs with long histories
Many towns on the plain below the escarpment started out cutting cedar or mining coal. Cringila, beside the steelworks, opened its first school in 1935, back when it was called Steeltown. On a house that's been around a while, ask whether the ridge mortar is original and whether earlier repairs used tiles that match.
Asbestos in pre-1990 homes
The NSW EPA says a house built before 1990 probably contains asbestos somewhere. On a restoration that covers the roof, the eave linings and the gutters, because water-blasting or cutting asbestos cement is illegal.
Damp air, moss and salt
Wollongong's afternoon humidity averages 61%, and rain falls on 137.3 days a year. Roofs that stay damp grow moss and lichen, and homes near the 17 patrolled beaches get salt on top of that.
Summer heat on the ridge
The University station has recorded 44.1 °C, on 1 January 2006. Years of heat and cooling crack old ridge mortar, which is why Monier says pointing repairs should use modern flexible compounds.
Units and townhouses
At the 2021 Census, 18.5% of occupied homes in the council area were flats or apartments, and 12.2% were semis, terraces or townhouses. If your roof is shared, the restoration is usually a strata decision, so start there before collecting quotes.
What a restoration covers, and what it can't
Expect a clean, broken tiles replaced, the ridge capping rebedded and repointed, and usually a coating. Ask what the coating is for. On concrete tiles it's cosmetic, since Monier says the colour coat doesn't help keep water out. On terracotta it isn't needed at all.
A restoration can't rescue tiles cracking across the whole roof, metal rusted through, or asbestos cement. If that's what the roofer finds, the honest next step is roof replacement in Wollongong.
Book the coating outside February and March, the two wettest months, so it gets the dry days it needs.
Ask these before you sign
- Which tiles are cracked, and are there enough sound ones to make this worthwhile?
- Will you rebed the full ridge, or only the sections that have failed?
- How will you clean the tiles without pressure washing them?
- Is anything on this roof, the eaves or the gutters asbestos cement?
- Which coating, how many coats, and what's the manufacturer's warranty?
- It's over $5,000, so will I get a written contract with your licence number on it?
If we were in your shoes
We'd ask the roofer to photograph the worst tiles before anyone mentions colour. If the tiles are sound, restoring an older Wollongong roof can be money well spent, and the ridge work is the part that keeps the water out. If a quote is mostly paint, we'd ask what problem the paint is solving.
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.