Why restoration comes up so often in Perth
Post-war brick and tile
The City of Cockburn's heritage guide describes Ranch houses, built from 1945 to 1980, as brick homes with tiled roofs and extended eaves. A roof from that era has had a long time in the weather, and Monier lists cracked ridge mortar as a common cause of leaks on tiled roofs.
Sun that chalks coatings
Perth averages 26 days above 35 °C a year, and summer 2021 to 22 had 11 days over 40 °C. Dulux says coatings fade partly through chalking, where UV breaks down the acrylic binder, so the product you choose matters here.
Older terracotta
Federation bungalows had terracotta roofs, and Inter-War California Bungalows could have Marseilles tiles. Monier says terracotta's colour is fired in and won't fade, and it doesn't recommend painting it, so on these roofs the money usually goes on the ridge, valleys and broken tiles.
Some roofs can't be restored
Inter-War and post-war Perth houses sometimes had asbestos-cement shingles. WA law bans cleaning asbestos materials with high-pressure water, so any restoration quote for one of those roofs is a warning sign.
Which parts of a restoration actually matter?
On concrete tiles, Monier says the colour coating is decorative only and plays no part in keeping water out. WA's Building and Energy and Consumer Protection agree that tiled roofs don't generally need coating unless you want a new look. What stops leaks is sound tiles, solid ridge bedding (the mortar holding the caps on) and flexible pointing over it.
So a good Perth restoration quote puts the repairs first: replacing cracked tiles, rebedding and repointing the ridge, and clearing valleys. The coating then makes it look new again, and Monier says a repainted concrete roof needs redoing every five years or so to keep the look.
If coating is part of the job, Building and Energy says anyone doing roof coating worth over $1,000 in Perth must be a registered painting contractor. Check them on the WA Online Licence Search.
What to ask a Perth roofer before you sign
- Is my roof concrete or terracotta, and does it really need a coating?
- How many tiles will you replace, and how many metres of ridge will you rebed?
- Which coating system is it, by brand and product, and how many coats?
- What's your painter registration number?
- Could any part of the roof, eaves or patio be asbestos cement?
- When would you coat it, and what happens if a winter front arrives mid-job?
Restoration offers to be wary of
- A quote that's mostly paint, with no tile or ridge repairs listed
- An offer to pressure clean a roof that might be asbestos
- A promise that a coating will stop leaks on its own
What we'd do
If your tiles are mostly sound, we'd restore rather than replace, and we'd spend first on the ridge and broken tiles, then on the coating. On terracotta, we'd usually skip the paint altogether. Ask every roofer to photograph the roof while they're up there, so you can see exactly what you're paying for.
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.
If you'd like someone to take a look, give us your postcode. We pass restoration jobs to one licence-checked Perth roofer where we have one, and we're upfront when nobody covers your area yet. The roof restoration guide explains the job in more depth, and our Perth page covers the rest of the city's roofing work.