Resources · Tiles & ridge
Heritage homes & Californian bungalows
The Federation cottages and Californian bungalows of Geelong West, Newtown and South Geelong are some of the city's most loved homes. Their roofs are also among the trickiest to keep watertight — because under those character tiles is a century of ageing timber and old detailing.
An old roof isn't just old tiles. It's old battens, old sarking (or none at all), old nails and fixings, and decades of small movements that have opened up gaps a newer roof wouldn't have. Repairing one well means understanding what's likely going on beneath the surface — and not making it worse in the name of a quick fix.
What ages underneath the tiles
- Battens. The timber strips the tiles hang on can dry-rot or split with age and damp, so tiles lose their grip and slip.
- Sarking. Many older homes were built with little or no sarking — the membrane under the tiles that catches stray water. Where it exists, it's often brittle and torn.
- Fixings. Original nails and clips corrode over the decades, letting tiles and ridge caps work loose.
- Mortar. Decades-old bedding and pointing on the ridge has usually cracked and crumbled long ago.
Why heritage tiles need a careful hand
Terracotta tiles on a hundred-year-old roof are brittle, and many are no longer made in the same profile or colour. Walk an old roof carelessly and you'll crack more tiles than you fix. A sympathetic repair means treading properly, sourcing matching or salvaged tiles where replacements are needed, and keeping the roof's original look intact — not slapping on whatever's cheapest and most available.
On a heritage roof, the goal isn't just to stop the leak — it's to stop the leak without erasing the thing that makes the house special.
The character-vs-watertight balance
There's real skill in repairing an old roof so it performs like a modern one while still looking original. That can mean replacing failed battens and adding sarking where the tiles are off anyway, renewing ridge bedding with flexible pointing, and swapping corroded fixings for stainless ones — all hidden beneath tiles that look exactly as they always did. If the home is in a heritage overlay, some external changes may also have planning considerations worth checking before work starts.
When it's bigger than a patch
Sometimes an old roof has reached the point where spot repairs are just chasing leaks from one tile to the next. When that's the case, we'll tell you honestly — and a careful restoration that keeps the original tiles while renewing everything underneath is often the better long-term spend than endless call-backs.
The mechanics of cracked tiles and tired ridge capping apply doubly to older homes — our guide to cracked tiles and ridge capping goes into the detail.
Own a character home with a leak?
We'll assess it with the care an older roof deserves and lay out your options plainly.