Wynnum's roofs, old and salty
Railway subdivisions
Wynnum was sparsely settled until the railway came, then grew fairly rapidly. Wynnum Station Estate went to auction in 1890 and the Wynnum Sports Ground Estate in 1914.
Brisbane's character rules
Brisbane's Traditional building character overlay protects houses substantially built in 1946 or earlier, and City Plan 2014 expects pre-1947 buildings to be kept in certain circumstances. Brisbane City Council's 1946 aerial photos are one way to check your house's age.
Heritage registers
Wynnum has many places on the Queensland Heritage Register and the Brisbane Heritage Register, including the former post office, the Baptist church and Cranleigh Lodge on Bay Terrace.
Moreton Bay at the door
BlueScope's exposed-water examples on Moreton Bay are Redcliffe, Cleveland and Fisherman's Island. Wynnum faces the same bay but isn't named, so ask your roofer which class applies to your address. Pandanus Beach needed rock groynes in 1987 to stop the bay's waves washing it away.
Mostly houses
At the 2021 Census, 70.8% of occupied homes in Wynnum were separate houses and 16.2% were units, with a median age of 43.
Repairs that respect an old Wynnum house
If your home predates 1947, changes to how it looks from the street can trigger planning rules, so talk to Brisbane City Council before replacing a roof in a different material or profile.
Corrugated iron was the classic Queenslander roof, chosen because it coped with torrential rain and could be reused after cyclone damage. Where old sheets have rusted through, a roofer can usually match the profile in new steel. Corrugated roof sheeting explains the options.
Close to the water, the steel grade matters as much as the profile. For exposed marine water, BlueScope's guide keeps standard COLORBOND and ZINCALUME more than 200 m away.
After the war, Queensland houses often used fibreboards, including asbestos sheeting, inside and in eaves. Have anything suspect tested before it's cut or drilled.
Questions for a Wynnum roofer
- Is my house in the Traditional building character overlay, and does this job need approval?
- Can you match the existing roof profile and ridge detail?
- Which steel product suits my distance from the bay, and will the gutters and screws match it?
- Have the eaves and any fibro sheets been checked for asbestos?
If it were our roof in Wynnum
We'd confirm the house's age and overlay status first, because that decides what you're allowed to change. Then we'd repair rather than replace wherever the frame and sheets allow, using steel suited to the bay. Roof repairs in Brisbane is a good next read.
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.