Roof Repairs Kew

It depends on what your roof is made of, and most Kew roofs fall into one of three groups. Victorian homes from the 1880s and 1890s, such as those around Queen Street and Sackville Street, mostly have slate or corrugated iron roofs. On these, leaks usually come from slates slipping as their original fixings corrode, failed flashings around chimneys, and box gutters hidden behind parapets.

Federation and interwar homes, including the estates in Kew East that grew after the tram reached Burke Road in 1925, are mostly clad in Marseilles-pattern terracotta tiles. Most of these roofs were built without sarking, so a single cracked tile or perished ridge bedding lets water straight into the ceiling. Post-war homes and units are usually concrete tile, where worn ridge capping and porous old tiles are the usual causes. If water is coming in now, here is what to do in the first hour.

Because the repair sealed the symptom instead of fixing the material that failed. The most common example on Kew roofs is silicone run over a cracked terracotta tile or a split flashing. Silicone does not bond permanently to old terracotta or weathered lead, so it lifts within a season or two.

The other cause is a repair made in the wrong place. Water travels along battens and rafters before it reaches the ceiling, so a leak above a bedroom can start at a valley or box gutter several metres away. We find the entry point and replace the tile, slate or flashing itself. A leak left running long enough will also cause mould and timber damage in the roof space.

Ridge and hip capping on a tiled roof sits on a bed of mortar and is sealed with pointing. On most Kew homes built before the 1970s, that bedding is the original sand and cement mix, and after 50 to 100 years it cracks and crumbles. Repointing means applying new flexible pointing compound over sound bedding. Rebedding means lifting the capping, removing the old mortar and laying a new bed first.

The distinction matters when you are buying. Many inspection reports simply say “repointing required”, but on interwar terracotta roofs the bedding underneath is often too far gone for repointing alone, and the job is a rebed and repoint. Knowing which one you need changes the price. We cover the process in more detail in why roof repointing matters.

The price on a Kew roof is driven by three things: the material, the height and the matching. Slate repairs cost more than tile repairs because each slate is fixed individually and matching replacements have to be sourced. Marseilles-pattern terracotta needs matching profile and colour, often from salvaged stock. Two-storey Victorian and Federation homes with steep pitches usually need scaffolding or edge protection.

Replacing a handful of concrete tiles on a single-storey unit is at the low end. Rebedding and repointing a full terracotta roof, or repairing a box gutter on a two-storey Victorian, sits much higher. Our Melbourne roof repair cost guide gives typical price ranges for each type of job.

Kew is in the City of Boroondara, and council’s rule is clear: replacing broken roof tiles is repairs and routine maintenance, but replacing all or part of a roof is not. If your property is in a Heritage Overlay, you need a planning permit for any roof work beyond repairs and routine maintenance. Kew has many heritage precincts, including Sackville Street, Barrington Avenue, Clifton Estate, Bradford Estate and Yarra Boulevard.

Properties on the Victorian Heritage Register also need approval from Heritage Victoria, and altering the roof framing, for example for a skylight or solar panels, needs a building permit. A VicPlan property report shows your overlays. We explain the overlay in what a Heritage Overlay means for your renovation, and checking your property’s heritage status takes about ten minutes.

Yes. Marseilles-pattern terracotta is the standard roof on Kew’s Federation and interwar homes, and we match replacements by profile, size and colour, using salvaged tiles where new ones no longer match. Some Kew bungalows have glazed terracotta, including blue-glazed tiles, which we source to match. If you have kept spare tiles from the original roof, we use those first.

For slate, we match thickness, size and colour so repairs sit flush with the existing courses. Where a slate roof is beyond repair, Spanish slate is a close visual match for original roofs. Old terracotta that is flaking or turning to powder has reached the end of its life and should be replaced rather than patched.

Repair it if the battens are sound and the failures are isolated: a few cracked tiles, worn capping or a damaged valley. Replace it when tiles are failing across the whole roof, the battens are rotten, or the same sections keep leaking after repairs. Kew’s interwar terracotta roofs, built between about 1915 and 1940, are now roughly 85 to 110 years old, and many are reaching that point.

Slate lasts longer than tile, but the nails and battens holding it do not, so many Victorian slate roofs in Kew need re-slating rather than repairs. Re-slating is a major investment, and our guide to slate roof costs in Melbourne sets out what to expect. In a Heritage Overlay, replacing the roof or changing the material, such as terracotta to Colorbond, needs a planning permit before a roof replacement can go ahead.

Yes. It is a regular cause of the leaks Kew homeowners contact us about. Installers walk on the roof and lift tiles to fit the brackets. Old terracotta and slate are brittle, so tiles crack underfoot, and brackets that sit under refitted tiles stop them seating properly.

Before solar goes on an older Kew roof, have it inspected and any cracked tiles, perished bedding and worn flashings fixed first, because the panels make those areas hard to reach later. If the roof framing has to be altered to carry the panels, Boroondara requires a building permit. We repair the tiles and flashings around solar panels after installation too.

Overhanging branches are what fill Kew gutters and valleys, but Boroondara’s Tree Protection Local Law limits what you can do. A canopy tree, one with a trunk circumference of 110 cm or more at 1.4 m above the ground, can be pruned without a permit, but the pruning must meet Australian Standard AS 4373. Removing a canopy tree, or working within 2 metres of its trunk, needs a permit. A tree on council’s Significant Tree Register needs a permit even to prune.

Use a qualified arborist for the pruning. We clear and repair the gutters, valleys and roof valleys the leaf litter has blocked or rusted out.

Yes. Box gutters run inside the roofline behind parapets and along party walls on Kew’s Victorian homes and terraces. Most were originally galvanised iron and rust from the inside. When one fails, the water drains into the house, not over the edge.

We clear, reline or replace box gutters, rebuild the sumps and rainheads that carry water into the downpipes, and fix the flashings where the gutter meets the walls. Where the external gutters are also rusted, here is what gutter replacement costs.

Yes. On a unit, townhouse or apartment block, the roof is usually common property, so the owners corporation arranges and approves the repair, even when the leak only affects one unit. If you are a unit owner with a leak, report it to your owners corporation manager first.

We repair roofs on Kew units, townhouses and walk-up apartment blocks, including repointing, cracked tiles, gutters and leaks that affect more than one unit, and we quote directly to owners corporation managers.