Roofing questions, answered straight

It depends on roof area, pitch, access, storeys, condition and total ridge metreage, which is why we quote after inspecting rather than over the phone. Ridge metreage surprises people most: bedding and pointing is priced by the metre of capping, so a complex hip and valley roof can carry several times the capping of a simple gable on the same footprint.

No. Inspection, photographs and a written itemised price cost nothing, including when the answer is that your roof needs very little.

Three to five working days on most single storey homes, spread across a week or two because the treatment stage needs days to work before anything else can happen.

Delignification is the breakdown of lignin, the polymer binding timber fibres together. Affected battens and rafters keep their shape while losing the strength to hold a fixing. Powerdrive treats it with a patented process that sands back and treats the affected timber, carrying a transferable 10-year warranty.

Rarely. On most Perth homes the tiles outlast the battens holding them, so lifting, re-battening and relaying your existing tiles is both cheaper and the correct answer. Ask any contractor which component has failed and whether they entered the roof space.

Yes. We carry public liability cover and work to Australian Standards. Ask us for current documentation and verify it independently rather than taking a business card at face value.

Ten years on workmanship, in writing. Where a coating is involved, a Dulux manufacturer product warranty is issued separately, which requires accredited application. You should finish holding two documents covering different failures.

The whole Perth metropolitan area, from Two Rocks and Yanchep in the north through the hills suburbs east to Rockingham, Baldivis and Mandurah in the south.

Active leaks get priority and we triage by risk rather than call order. Ring 0421 768 842 for after hours and emergencies. After a major front, anybody promising immediate attendance is not being straight with you.

Sudden identifiable events such as storms or impact usually are covered. Gradual deterioration is not, whatever anybody tells you at the door. Where a storm hit a roof that was already tired, an honest report separates the two, which is what gets the legitimate part approved.

Usually. Perth has decades of discontinued concrete and terracotta profiles circulating through salvage yards, so a handful of broken tiles almost never forces a re-roof.

Twice a year suits most Perth homes, in late autumn before the fronts and again in spring. Under heavy canopy or in the hills, four times is realistic. The valleys matter more than the gutters and they can only be cleared from the roof.

Yes, including box gutters, sumps and parapet detailing. Strata work is documented with photographs and a written scope an owners corporation can act on, because a committee has to minute a decision.

Bedding is the mortar bed the ridge cap sits on and it is structural. Pointing is the compound finishing the joint and it is weatherproofing. A quote saying re-point when the bedding has broken up is a quote for the wrong job.

That signature almost always points at the ridge line or a flashing. Water is not falling into the defect, it is being driven into it sideways, which is why the same roof stays dry through a week of steady drizzle and marks during one westerly front.

Perished pointing. Rigid sand and cement mortar breaks down and the crumbs wash into the gutter, which is the earliest visible warning that the ridge line needs attention.

Generally you should not. Terracotta is fired and frequently glazed, the colour is the material rather than a coating and a coloured membrane permanently changes a building in a way that is very hard to reverse. Cleaning and repair suits it far better.

Most likely condensation rather than a leak. It appears on still humid mornings, it is diffuse rather than a defined drip and it affects an area rather than a spot. Bathroom and kitchen fans discharging into the roof cavity instead of outside are the usual cause and the fix is ducting.

We identify it before anything is disturbed and coordinate licensed removal where it is required. Asbestos cement should never be pressure cleaned, drilled or walked on and anybody offering to clean one does not know what they are handling.

Somebody has to get into the roof space and test the timber physically. Affected battens look perfectly normal and fail the moment a fixing goes into them, which is exactly what makes them dangerous. Tiles that keep slipping in the same spot are the one external clue.

Occasionally. Usually the difference is treatment time before cleaning, bedding and pointing excluded, or a thinner film build on the coating. Compare the scopes rather than the totals and the gap normally explains itself.

Our crews are employees, so the person who quotes your roof is generally the person standing on it. It matters most for warranty claims, since a workmanship warranty from a business that subcontracts everything and supervises nothing is a document rather than a protection.

It gets photographed and discussed before anybody acts on it. Scope changes on older roofs are normal because things become visible once tiles come off. Silent scope changes are not normal and they are a warning about the whole job.

Yes and we coordinate removal and refitting with an electrical contractor where a restoration requires it. Raise solar at quoting rather than mid job, because it affects both scheduling and cost.

Restoration renews the surface of a sound roof. Replacement addresses failed structure. The test is what the battens are doing, not what the surface looks like and it takes twenty minutes with a torch to answer.