Some roofs should not be restored. Here is how to tell before you spend.
An assessment that answers restore-or-replace before anything is priced — tiles, ridge lines, fixings and sheeting.
Most roof restoration pages assume the answer before you ask the question. This one does not. No Australian standard, regulator or industry body publishes a line between a roof worth restoring and a roof due for replacement, so the honest thing to hand a Boondall homeowner is not a verdict but a list of things to make an inspector show you. What is holding the tiles down, and is it still working. Whether the mortar bed has failed or only the pointing over it. What the tile surface itself is doing. Book the inspection first; the answer comes from the roof, not from the quote.
Some roofs are not restoration candidates. That limit is real, and it is where this page starts rather than where it ends. We went looking for the published line between a roof that is a restoration candidate and one that has passed the point of restoration, and there is not one. The National Construction Code and AS 2050 govern how a tiled roof is installed, not how its condition should be judged. No regulator, industry body or manufacturer we could find publishes a threshold test. So this page does not invent a checklist and hang somebody else's name on it. It does something more useful for a Boondall owner about to commit money once: it sets out the evidence you should make an inspector produce, in the same plain terms customers already use when they talk about pointing, tiles, screws and sheeting.
A restoration is a set of works you buy on the assumption the roof underneath can hold them. That assumption is what an inspection is for, and it is the part most quotes skip.
Start with what actually holds a tiled roof down. Under the National Construction Code, roof tiles must be secured by galvanised clout nails, self-embedding head screws, purpose-made clips, or flexible pointing complying with AS 2050 — one of those, or a combination of them. Read that list again: pointing is a fixing, not a finish. The code sets how a roof is installed, not when it stops being restorable, so it gives you no threshold — but it gives you the question. How is this roof fixed, and is that fixing still doing its job? A coating cannot answer a fixing problem.
The next question is where the failure sits. Bedding and pointing are two different layers: the mortar bed carries the ridge and hip tiles, and the pointing seals over it. Ask any inspector to show you which one has gone, and to put the answer in writing, because a quote that reads "re-point" when the bed underneath has moved is a quote you may end up paying twice.
Then the tiles themselves. If your tiles are terracotta and older, ask about fretting — the erosion of the tile body, which the Australian Roofing Tile Association addresses in its own technical material and answers with replacement rather than with a coating. Tile condition has to be established before a cleaning method is chosen, rather than the other way round.
Almost every Boondall reader owns a whole house roof — 83.0% of occupied private dwellings here are separate houses, and roughly seven in ten are held by an owner-occupier — so the decision tends to be made once, alone, and from savings, at a median weekly household income of $1,887. That is the reason to spend on the assessment before the works, not the reason to hurry.
An on-roof assessment of tiles, ridge lines, fixings and sheeting.
For a Boondall owner weighing restore against replace, this is the part that produces the answer. The published account of our restoration work begins with an inspection that determines what follows, rather than a set sequence decided beforehand — which is exactly what a reader with no vocabulary for the decision needs.
Book an inspectionRe-pointing of ridge and hip lines and replacement of cracked or broken tiles.
Under the National Construction Code, flexible pointing complying with AS 2050 is one of the recognised ways a tile is held down, alongside clout nails, self-embedding head screws and clips — so this is fixing work, not decoration. Tile replacement and re-pointing of ridge caps are documented scope, and customers describe both.
Roof repairs in BoondallSecuring roof sheeting, replacing or tightening screws and bolts, and repairing minor damage on metal and tin roofs.
Not every Boondall house roof is tiled, and a metal roof puts the same question differently: it is the fixings that are the wearing part. Securing sheeting and replacing or tightening screws and bolts is documented scope, and one customer describes exactly this on a large metal roof.
Roof repairs in BoondallSurface preparation, colour matching and application of protective surface coats.
This is the last step of a restoration and the one that can never substitute for condition. If the fixings, the bedding or the tile bodies themselves are the problem, a coating does not answer it. Where a roof is sound and the finish is what has gone, see roof painting in Boondall.
Roof painting in BoondallRoof replacement and re-roofing are not services this business provides.
If an assessment concludes your roof needs replacing, the people to engage are a licensed re-roofing contractor and a building certifier — the certifier because re-roofing beyond a threshold proportion of the existing roof area can require a building permit irrespective of like-for-like material, which is worth confirming with the certifier or the QBCC directly. A certifier is also the person to ask about a Brisbane City Plan overlay, which applies lot by lot and is checked against your own address. Whoever you engage can be checked on the QBCC public register. If the roof is still sound and it is component work you need — tiles, pointing, sheeting, fixings, a leak — that is the roof repairs in Boondall page, not this one.
Search the QBCC registerFlexible pointing is one of the fixings the National Construction Code recognises for holding roof tiles in place, alongside clout nails, self-embedding head screws and purpose-made clips, and like any fixing it has a working life.
Because pointing is doing a fixing job rather than a cosmetic one, failed pointing is a question about how securely the ridge line is held, not about how the roof looks.
Re-pointing of ridge caps is documented work for us, and customers describe it independently. What the fixing is has to be established before the fix is chosen, so ask whoever quotes the job which method is holding your ridge line down and whether it is still doing its job.
Bedding and pointing are separate layers — the mortar bed carries the ridge and hip tiles, the pointing seals over the top of it — and only the pointing is visible from the ground.
If the bed underneath is the part that has failed, work that addresses the sealing layer alone is money spent on the wrong layer, and this is the distinction a coating-led quote most easily hides.
Which layer has failed has to be established at inspection before any re-pointing is agreed, so ask whoever quotes the job which one it is, what that finding rests on, and ask for the answer in writing — of us and of anyone else you get out.
Fretting is erosion of the tile body itself. The Australian Roofing Tile Association publishes technical material on why fretting of older terracotta tiles occurs and what to do about it.
Fretting affects the tile material rather than its surface, so it is a tile problem, not a finish problem — and no coating addresses it.
Where tiles are terracotta and older, tile condition has to be established before any works are agreed, and the industry body's own remedy points to replacement with modern tiles rather than to a coating.
Cleaning is the visible opening move of most restorations, so it gets booked as a default rather than as a decision that follows an assessment.
On tiles that are already deteriorating, the step meant to prepare a roof can take material off it. Which method is appropriate depends on what the tiles are and what condition they are in.
What the tiles are and what condition they are in has to be established before a cleaning method is chosen, so ask whoever quotes the job to tell you both before any cleaning is booked; we do not publish a fixed order of works that would decide that in advance.
Customers describe roof work as an undifferentiated task list — pressure cleaned, gutters cleaned, repointed, tiles replaced, painted and sealed — because nothing in the buying process names the decision underneath it.
Those three are different purchases with different consequences. Re-roofing beyond a threshold proportion of the existing roof area can require a building permit — an approval step restoration does not raise, and one to confirm with a building certifier or the QBCC directly.
The documented repair scope here is component work — ridge-cap pointing, individual tiles, sheeting and fixings — so you can tell which side of the line your roof sits on. Roof replacement is not part of it.
Replacement is usually presented as the bigger option rather than as a structurally different job, so the works it drags in stay invisible until after the decision.
Changing roof material changes roof weight, and with it the tie-down requirements — going one way lowers resistance to wind uplift, going the other loads the existing structure more heavily. Changing a street-visible roof form or material can also raise a Brisbane City Plan question a restoration never raises, and overlays apply lot by lot.
Roof replacement is not work we do. If that is where your roof has got to, the people to engage are a licensed re-roofing contractor and a building certifier, and whoever you engage can be checked on the QBCC public register.
What can be evidenced about this business is the work itself. Its documented repair scope covers tile replacement and re-pointing of ridge caps, securing roof sheeting, replacing or tightening screws and bolts, surface preparation, colour matching and protective surface coats, across concrete and terracotta tiles, older cement tiles, and Colorbond or metal sheeting. Customers describe that same work independently — repointing, replacing cracked tiles and repainting a tile roof, and renovating a large metal roof. The published account of a restoration begins with an inspection that determines what the roof needs, rather than a fixed set of works decided in advance. One customer describes the quoting visit as arriving on time, everything explained, and the written quote sent that evening. None of that feedback names a suburb, so it is offered as evidence of method, never of place. Building work in Queensland is licensed, and anyone you engage — including us — can be checked on the QBCC public register before you sign. Queensland's Home Warranty Scheme expressly lists restoring or repairing roofs as insurable work above its stated threshold, with the premium paid by the contractor before work begins; ask for confirmation that it has been.
Roof Restoration
1 Richards Court, Bellmere QLD 4510
Mon-Sat 7:00 am - 4:00 pm
Boondall
Boondall, Brisbane City Council, QLD
Brisbane
There is no published threshold, and that is the honest answer rather than an evasion. The National Construction Code and AS 2050 govern how a tiled roof is installed, not how its condition should be judged, and we could find no regulator, industry body or manufacturer that publishes a restore-or-replace test. So the answer has to come from evidence about your particular roof, which means three findings you should make any inspector produce: what is holding the tiles down and whether that fixing is still working, whether the failure sits in the mortar bed or only in the pointing over it, and what the tile bodies themselves are doing. Ask for all three in writing before anything is priced. A quote that arrives without them is a price, not an answer.
They are two different layers, and only one of them is visible from the ground. The mortar bed is what carries the ridge and hip tiles; the pointing is the layer that seals over the top of it. If the pointing has broken up but the bed beneath is sound, re-pointing is the right work. If the bed itself has moved, work that addresses only the sealing layer leaves the actual problem in place — and you may end up paying for the ridge line twice. This is the distinction a coating-led quote most easily hides, so ask whoever quotes your roof which layer has failed, what that finding rests on, and get the answer in writing. Ask us the same.
Not as an automatic first step. Cleaning is the visible opening move of most restorations, which is exactly why it tends to get booked as a default rather than chosen as a decision. The method has to follow what the tiles are and what condition they are in — on tiles that are already deteriorating, the step meant to prepare the roof can take material off it. If your tiles are terracotta and older, raise fretting specifically before any cleaning is agreed. We do not publish a fixed order of works that would settle this in advance, so ask whoever quotes the job to tell you what the tiles are and what condition they are in, and to do it before cleaning is booked.
Possibly, and it is not a question to take from a roofer. Re-roofing beyond a threshold proportion of the existing roof area can require a building permit, irrespective of whether the replacement is like-for-like — an approval step a restoration does not raise at all. Changing a street-visible roof form or material can also raise a Brisbane City Plan overlay question, and overlays apply lot by lot rather than suburb by suburb, so it is checked against your own address. The people who answer both properly are a building certifier and the QBCC directly. Confirm it with them before you commit to a replacement, not after.
No. Roof replacement and re-roofing are not services this business provides, and this page says so plainly because the distinction changes who you should be calling. What is documented here is component work — ridge-cap pointing, individual tile replacement, sheeting, screws and fixings, surface preparation and protective coating. If an assessment concludes your roof needs replacing rather than restoring, the people to engage are a licensed re-roofing contractor and a building certifier, and whoever you engage can be checked on the QBCC public register before you sign anything.
Put the same four things to every contractor you get out, this one included. Ask for the quote in writing, and ask what is actually itemised in it. Ask which layer of the ridge line has failed and what that finding rests on. Ask what the tile substrate is doing before any cleaning method is agreed. And check the paperwork rather than assume it: residential building work above the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme's stated threshold is insurable work, restoring or repairing roofs is expressly listed, and the contractor pays the premium before work begins — so ask for confirmation it has been paid, and search the QBCC public register yourself for whoever you are about to engage.
Book an inspection whose output is an answer, not just a number. Ask what the roof's fixing method is and whether it is still doing its job. Ask whether the bedding or only the pointing has failed, and ask for that in writing. Ask what the tile substrate itself is doing before any cleaning method is agreed. Then ask the questions you should put to any contractor, us included: put the quote in writing, ask what is itemised in it, ask that the Home Warranty premium be confirmed paid before work starts, and check the licence on the QBCC public register. The expensive mistake at this end of the decision is buying the wrong product, not buying late — so the assessment goes first.
