Roof restoration and repairs in Adelaide

Roofs on Adelaide homes

The CBD is mostly apartments and commercial buildings, with historic terraces and cottages tucked into the south-east and south-west corners. Those older homes often have iron roofs behind parapet walls, where box gutters and flashings need regular attention.

The Adelaide CBD is run by the City of Adelaide. The City of Adelaide covers the CBD and North Adelaide. Most roofs in the square mile sit on apartment and commercial buildings, but the south-east and south-west corners have historic terraces and cottages, and North Adelaide has some of the city's most significant bluestone villas and terraces. Many are heritage-listed, with iron or slate roofs, parapets and box gutters that need careful work.

Popular roofing jobs in Adelaide

• Like-for-like iron re-roofs on heritage terraces and cottages
• Box gutter, parapet and flashing repairs on older city homes
• Slate and iron roof repairs on North Adelaide villas
• Townhouse roof repairs, coordinated with the strata or community corporation

What Adelaide roofs have to cope with

Many homes in Adelaide are apartments and townhouses, where shared roofs are usually looked after by the strata or community corporation. For a townhouse roof, check the by-laws and who is responsible before booking work.

Many older homes in Adelaide have corrugated iron roofs, front verandahs and box gutters. Iron rusts first at the laps and fixings, box gutters block and overflow, and the join between the original roof and a rear extension is a common leak point. In historic areas, like-for-like iron in a traditional profile is usually the simplest path.

Before you book

Check three things before you book roof work in Adelaide. First, the licence: anyone contracting for building work in SA needs a building work contractor's licence, and jobs of $12,000 or more need a written contract. Second, approvals: repairs, restorations and like-for-like re-roofs usually don't need them. Parts of the City of Adelaide are within Historic Area or Character Area Overlays under the Planning and Design Code. Like-for-like repairs are rarely an issue, but changing the roof's material, colour or shape where it can be seen from the street may need development approval. Third, what's on the roof: solar panels have to come off for most restorations and re-roofs, and an old grey fibre-cement roof may contain asbestos, which needs a licensed removalist for anything over 10 square metres.