Free roof inspection and an obligation-free quote.
Roof Restoration Elwood
Terracotta and concrete tiled roofs in Elwood and Elsternwick — restored, repaired and matched by roof tilers who have been working with these tiles since the 1930s.
Elwood is the lowest-lying suburb we work in, and it was a swamp before it was a suburb. That is not a throwaway fact. It is the single most useful thing to know about a roof here.
Built on a drained swamp
For most of the nineteenth century the wetland where Elwood now stands was treated as an obstacle. Elster Creek ran into an ill-defined swamp near the beach that grew and shrank with the rainfall, somewhere between 108 and 160 acres depending on the season.
The Elwood Canal was cut to carry the lower reaches of Elster Creek out to Port Phillip Bay, and that is what made the land buildable. The canal still channels the suburb’s stormwater and floodwater into the bay today.
It has never entirely won. A record high tide combined with hundred-kilometre gales in December 1934 burst the canal’s banks and flooded the suburb extensively, and Elwood has kept flooding periodically ever since.
Why that matters on your roof
Your roof is the first stage of the stormwater system, and in a low-lying suburb the whole system is already working near its limit.
Where your downpipes discharge matters more here than almost anywhere. A downpipe emptying at the base of a wall is a nuisance in Camberwell. In Elwood, on ground that already struggles to shed water, it is how you get damp in the walls and water where you do not want it.
A blocked gutter has nowhere to go. On a flat site with a high water table, overflow does not drain away quietly. It sits.
Box gutters are unforgiving. Many Elwood buildings, particularly the flats, have parapet walls with box gutters behind them. A box gutter that cannot cope does not spill over the front of the house — it spills inward, into the building. That is the single most damaging roof fault in this suburb and it is entirely preventable with clearing and checking.
So an Elwood roof inspection is as much about where the water goes as about the tiles.
The interwar flats
Elwood is one of the most densely built suburbs in Melbourne, and a great deal of that density is interwar. Large blocks of 1930s flats went up through here, particularly around Brighton Road, and more again in the 1960s and 70s.
Those buildings bring two practical issues. The roof is common property, so the work usually needs owners corporation agreement rather than one person’s decision — we are used to quoting in a form that can be circulated and voted on. And the roof form is often parapet-and-box-gutter rather than a simple pitched roof, which needs someone who has worked on them before.
The houses, and what they are made of
Between the flats, Elwood’s housing runs to Victorian mansions, Edwardian and Queen Anne cottages and early Californian bungalows — many on the leafy plane-tree streets of Poet’s Corner in the north-west.
That is terracotta country. The Edwardian and bungalow stock carries the original terracotta, and those profiles are long out of production, so matching is the part that decides the job.
Being on the bay, the same rule applies here as everywhere along this coast: salt does very little to the tiles and a great deal to the metal. Valley irons, flashings, box gutters and fixings are what fail first.
We work on terracotta and concrete tiled roofs only — no metal, no Colorbond, no slate.
Some of our recent projects
WHAT FAILS FIRST
Signs an Elwood roof needs attention
On these roofs the tile usually outlasts everything holding it down.
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Water pooling at the base of a wall
Usually a downpipe discharging badly. It matters far more on low-lying ground.
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A stain appearing inside after heavy rain
On a parapet building this is often the box gutter overflowing inward, not a tile fault.
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Rust streaks in a valley or box gutter
Salt attacks the metal, not the tiles. The metal is what fails here.
WHY US
Why call us for an Elwood roof
We check where the water goes
We know box gutters
We work with owners corporations
Tile only, and we say so
Related Services
Roof Restoration Elwood
Frequently asked questions
Water is pooling near the house. Is that a roof problem?
Very often, yes. On low-lying Elwood ground, where your downpipes discharge matters enormously. A downpipe emptying at the base of a wall causes problems here that it would not cause on a well-drained site further inland. We check the discharge as part of the inspection.
What is a box gutter and why does it matter here?
It is a gutter that sits behind a parapet wall rather than on the edge of the roof, and it is common on Elwood’s flats and some of the older buildings. If it blocks or cannot cope with the volume, the overflow goes into the building rather than over the side. It is the most damaging roof fault in this suburb and the easiest to prevent.
Our building is flats. Who approves the work?
Usually the owners corporation, since the roof is common property. We are used to providing a quote that can be circulated and voted on, and to waiting while that runs its course.
Does salt air damage roof tiles?
Not really. Fired clay and concrete do not corrode. Salt attacks the metal — valley irons, flashings, box gutters and fixings — which on a bayside roof fail long before the tiles do.
Can you match the terracotta on an Edwardian Elwood house?
Usually. The original profiles are largely out of production, but we hold both current brands and know which modern tile sits closest to each older pattern. Where nothing matches well enough we will say so before you commit.
How often should an Elwood roof be checked?
More often than most, and specifically the drainage rather than the tiles. Gutters, downpipes and box gutters are doing harder work here than they would on higher ground, and clearing them is far cheaper than dealing with what happens when they fail.
Do you cover Elsternwick and St Kilda?
Yes. We are based in Burwood and work across the eastern and south-eastern suburbs, and we travel this way regularly for re-roofing, restoration and heritage work.
Tiled roof in Elwood that needs looking at?
If you have a tiled roof in Elwood or Elsternwick and you want it assessed honestly — including where the water actually goes — we will come and look at it.
Free inspection and obligation-free quote. Call 03 9888 7088, Monday to Friday 9:00am to 4:00pm. Safety is always our first priority — hand-rail, scaffolding or a roof harness is used on every job and included in the quote.
