Roof Inspections and Reports on the Central Coast

Three very different reasons to get a roof looked at

People order a roof inspection on the Central Coast for one of three reasons, and the report they need is not the same in each case.

You own the house and something is wrong. A stain, a drip, a cracked ceiling cornice, or simply a roof that has started to look its age. You need to know what is failing and what it will cost.

You are buying. The building report said "roof requires maintenance" and left it there. You need a number before you exchange, because on older Central Coast stock the roof is frequently the single largest unknown in the purchase.

You are claiming, or might be. Something happened and you need the damage described, dated and photographed by someone who understands roofs.

Call (02) 4307 5050 and tell us which of those three you are. The inspection and the written quote cost nothing.

What gets checked

On the roof

• Tile condition — breakages, slippage, surface delamination, porosity.
• Sheet condition — corrosion at laps, cut edges, fixing points and the gutter line.
• Fastener condition. On coastal and lakeside properties this is often the finding that matters most, because fixings fail before sheets do.
• Ridge and hip lines — bedding, pointing, movement.
• Valleys — leaf load, corrosion, whether the irons are still sound under the debris.
• Flashings at every penetration: chimneys, flues, vents, skylights, solar feet, antenna mounts.
• Ventilation — whirlybirds and vents, their flashings and their rubber seals, which perish long before the roof does.

At the gutter line

Fall, blockage, joint leaks, bracket condition, rust through the trough, fascia behind the gutter, downpipe condition and where the water actually discharges.

Inside the roof space

Where it can be safely entered, this is where the truth is. Staining on timber tells you about historical leaks that have since been patched. Damp insulation, rusted nail plates, soft battens and daylight through the sarking all say more than the surface does.

What you receive

A written report, in plain English, with photographs of the actual findings. It sets out:

• Roof type, approximate age bracket where that can be determined, and general condition.
• Each defect found, where it is, and what is causing it.
• A clear split between needs doing now, should be done within a year or two, and monitor.
• Whether repair or replacement is the better value, and why.
• An itemised quote for the recommended work.
• Anything that falls outside roofing and should be looked at by someone else.

Pre-purchase inspections, the Central Coast version

Buying here has a particular hazard: the housing stock is wildly inconsistent street by street. An original fibro shack from the asbestos era can sit between a 1980s brick-and-tile and a rebuilt waterfront home with a modern metal roof. Age of suburb tells you almost nothing about age of roof.

Things worth knowing before you sign:

• Fibro-era houses around Woy Woy, Umina Beach, Ettalong Beach, Toukley, Budgewoi and the older end of The Entrance may have asbestos cement in the roof or eaves. That is not a reason to walk away, but it is a cost and a compliance step. In NSW a licensed removalist is required for more than 10 square metres of non-friable material and for any friable material, and Central Coast Council accepts household asbestos at the Buttonderry facility at Jilliby and at Woy Woy, by booking, only for material from within the LGA.
• Near the water, check the hardware rather than the roof. Corroded fasteners, valley irons and gutter lines are the real cost on an otherwise sound coastal roof.
• On the lakes, do not assume sheltered means safe. Brackish frontages around Tuggerah Lake, Budgewoi Lake and Brisbane Water are hard on metal, because salt sits in humid unwashed areas instead of being rinsed off.
• On a bush block at Ourimbah, Lisarow, Narara or Killcare, look at the valleys and gutters, not the ridge. Leaf load is what causes leaks there.

Condition checks for owners who are not here

If you own a holiday house or an investment property on the Coast and live somewhere else, a periodic written roof check is cheap insurance. An empty house has nobody to notice a drip, and a leak found at the end of winter costs a fraction of one found at the end of the year.

We arrange access with your agent or caretaker, inspect, photograph and email the report. You get a record of condition over time, which is also useful if a claim is ever made.

Reports for insurance

Where damage has occurred, the report documents what failed, how it failed, and when it was inspected, with dated photographs. Insurers generally distinguish sudden damage from gradual deterioration, so an accurate description serves you better than a flattering one.

We will not state that a claim will succeed. That decision belongs to your insurer and your policy.

What an inspection cannot tell you

Honesty matters more than a tidy sales line here. A roof inspection cannot guarantee a roof will not leak — wind-driven rain in an unusual direction can find a joint that performs perfectly in ordinary weather. It cannot see inside sealed cavities, and it cannot assess structural engineering, which is a different profession. Where something sits outside what a roofer can properly assess, the report says so.

Work is carried out by established, licensed and insured roofing contractors working to NSW Fair Trading requirements.

Book an inspection

Call (02) 4307 5050 or send the details through the form — tell us the suburb, the roof type if you know it, and whether you are an owner, a buyer or making a claim.

Related: roof repairs, roof restoration, storm and emergency repairs, and the service areas page.