Harris Park roof repairs and restoration

Most of the housing in Harris Park went up between 1910 and 1930, and the pattern still reads on the street. South of Alice Street the houses are more substantial — brick, steep unglazed terracotta, gablets and decorative barge detail. The 1920s subdivision north of it is more modest, with weatherboard cottages under the same tile. Experiment Farm Cottage and Hambledon Cottage sit at the heart of it, and both the Experiment Farm and Harris Park West heritage conservation areas cover parts of the suburb.

Call (02) 9090 4741 for a free look at yours.

What a century-old terracotta roof needs

Unglazed terracotta is porous by design and gets more so as the surface weathers. On roofs of this age in Harris Park the usual findings are:

• Mortar bedding under the ridge and hip caps crumbled away, with caps that rock when touched.
• Tiles that have become brittle enough to break under foot traffic, so a repair has to be done carefully or it creates more damage than it fixes.
• Lichen holding moisture on the southern faces.
• Valley irons rusted through under years of leaf litter.
• Original flashings at the chimney that have simply run out of service life.

A clean, rebed and repoint with flexible pointing is often the right call. Terracotta generally should not be coated the way concrete tile is — on a street like Wigram Street or Marion Street the natural fired finish is the character of the place, and sealing it can trap moisture in the tile body.

Additions and box gutters

The back of nearly every one of these houses has been extended. Where the new roof meets the old, there is usually an internal box gutter, frequently with no overflow and a sole narrower than current practice allows. That is the fault that puts water into Harris Park ceilings, not the tiles.

Approvals

In a conservation area, changing the external appearance of a building generally requires City of Parramatta consent. Like-for-like maintenance is treated differently. Settle it before you pick a material.

Nearby

We also work in Parramatta, Rosehill and Granville. See roof restoration, repairs or the full service area.

Call (02) 9090 4741 or send the details.