What Charlestown roofs are dealing with
Charlestown sits on the ridge between the coast and Lake Macquarie, which means most of the suburb is more exposed than its distance from the water suggests. It is not a beachfront postcode, but the easterly weather comes up and over that ridge with very little in the way, and roofs on the eastern-facing streets take noticeably more of it than the ones tucked below the crest.
The other defining thing is the housing stock. A large part of Charlestown is post-war brick-and-tile on concrete tile roofs that are now somewhere between fifty and seventy years old. That is exactly the age where the tiles themselves are still sound but the ridge capping mortar has given up, which is why re-bedding and re-pointing is the single most common piece of work we quote around here. Mixed in with that is newer infill and townhouse development on Colorbond, which fails in completely different ways and on a different timescale.
What we look at first here
These are the things that come up again and again on this side of Lake Macquarie. They are conditions rather than a checklist, and which ones apply depends on where your street sits on the ridge.
The exposed eastern faces
On the streets facing the coast side of the ridge, the windward slope of a roof is almost always further gone than the sheltered one. Coatings chalk faster on that face, pointing dries out sooner, and wind-driven rain finds gaps that never leak in ordinary weather. Quoting the whole roof off the sheltered side is how a restoration comes up short.
Sixty-year-old ridge capping
Post-war concrete tile roofs across the suburb are at the age where the original cement mortar has cracked right along the ridges and hips. The tiles are usually fine. The bed underneath the capping is not, and pointing over a failed bed rather than re-bedding it is the shortcut that has that roof cracking again within a couple of summers.
Gums over the gutters
The older streets have mature gums and paperbarks that overhang the roofline, so gutters and valleys pack with leaf litter and bark. A blocked valley on a tile roof backs water up under the tiles either side of it, and it presents as a ceiling leak that looks nothing like a gutter problem.
What we do in Charlestown
Pressure clean, re-bed and re-point the ridge capping, replace broken tiles, then a coating system. Typically buys another 10 to 15 years out of a sound tile roof.
Learn moreSlipped and cracked tiles, failed pointing, rusted valley irons and flashing. We find what is actually causing the problem rather than patching the wet patch.
Learn moreWhen the battens or sarking have gone, a coating will not save it. We strip the old roof and re-sheet, usually to Colorbond steel.
Learn moreColorbond steel roofing, supplied and installed. Lighter than tile, quick to install, and it holds up well to the salt air along the coast.
Learn moreRoof plumbing is its own licensed trade: metal roofing, guttering, downpipes, flashing and box gutters. If water is meant to move, this is the work that moves it.
Learn moreA stain on the ceiling or a drip during last night's rain. Call us and we will come and look at it, find where the water is actually getting in, and make it safe.
Learn more
Common questions
Do you charge to come out to Charlestown?
No. The on-site inspection and the written quote are free, and that includes getting on the roof and into the roof space rather than looking at it from the ground. You keep the photos whether you go ahead or not.
My Charlestown house is 1960s brick and tile. Restore or replace?
Usually restore, and the deciding factor is what is under the tiles rather than the tiles themselves. On a roof that age the battens and sarking are the question. If they are sound, a restoration is a fraction of the cost of replacing and buys another 10 to 15 years. If they have rotted, no coating will save it. That is the first thing we check.
Is Charlestown close enough to the coast to need coastal-grade steel?
It depends on your street, and it is worth asking rather than assuming. Charlestown is not beachfront, but the ridge is exposed and the eastern side of the suburb sits closer to that weather than the western side. The steel manufacturers publish minimum distances from breaking surf for each grade, and any quote for a metal roof should be able to tell you which grade it has allowed and why.
Can you match the tiles on an older Charlestown roof?
Usually. A lot of the concrete profiles used through the fifties and sixties are no longer made, so matching means sourcing second-hand tiles rather than buying new ones. That takes a little longer and we would rather do it than put an obviously different tile on a roof that is visible from the street.
Around Charlestown
We cover the streets either side of Charlestown as well, so if you are just over the boundary it is the same job and the same free inspection.
- Kotara
- Adamstown Heights
- Whitebridge
- Dudley
- Gateshead
- Mount Hutton
- Highfields
- Bennetts Green
Roof playing up in Charlestown?
Give us a call and we will come and look at it. Free on-site inspection across Lake Macquarie and the wider Hunter, with the quote in writing before anything starts.