Roof inspections and written reports across the Inner West

Three different reasons people book one

Most roof inspections in this area are requested by one of three people, and each wants something different out of it.

You are buying

A two-storey Victorian terrace in Newtown or Balmain hides its entire drainage system from the street and from the open home. The box gutter, the sump, the parapet cappings and the junction with next door are precisely the expensive items, and precisely the ones nobody looks at before exchange. A roof-specific inspection tells you what you are buying.

You have a leak that keeps moving

Stain in the back bedroom in April, stain near the stairwell in July, nothing in between. These are almost always direction-dependent — a parapet that only wets through on rain from one quarter, or a gutter that only overtops at high flow. Systematic inspection beats another round of guess-and-seal.

Your insurer has asked for documentation

An assessor wants dated photographs, a description of the failure mechanism, and a clear separation of storm damage from pre-existing wear. A written report provides that record.

Call (02) 8000 1103 to arrange one.

What gets inspected on an attached roof

An Inner West inspection is not a walk over a tile field. The checklist follows the way these roofs are actually built.

• The covering. Slate, terracotta, concrete tile or sheet metal — material, age, condition, and whether failure is isolated or across whole slopes. On slate, the state of the fixings matters more than the state of the slate.
• The box gutter. Lining material and condition, falls, base width, standing water, debris load, sump condition, and whether there is any independent overflow discharging to atmosphere. An absent overflow is one of the most common findings and one of the most consequential.
• Downpipe and discharge. One outlet or more, where it goes, and whether it is clear.
• Parapets. Capping condition, mortar, evidence of damp tracking down inside the brickwork, and any surviving damp-proof course.
• Party-wall and shared junctions. The flashing between your roof and the neighbouring one, the materials it has been patched with, and how it has been maintained.
• Chimneys and penetrations. Stack brickwork, lead aprons, flue caps, vents, whirlybirds, skylights and antenna fixings.
• Valleys and flashings. Rust, debris, and whether they were formed or improvised.
• Inside the roof cavity. Rafter ends, wall plates and battens; staining and moisture history; insulation condition; sarking present or absent.
• Eaves gutters where the house has them, including fall, fascia timber and bracket fixing.

Getting onto the roof when there is no way onto the roof

Zero setback to the footpath, no side path, a 1.2 metre rear lane, two storeys and a parapet edge with nothing to tie to. That is a normal Inner West site, and it is why some inspections get declined elsewhere.

Methods are combined to get full coverage:

• From inside the roof cavity, which answers more questions than people expect
• From an adjacent roof or an upper window where that is available and safe
• From ladder access at a point where the edge can be reached safely
• Aerial imagery for box gutters, parapet tops and slopes that cannot be reached on foot
• Scaffolding where the inspection genuinely requires hands on the work

Anything that could not be sighted is stated as not sighted. A report that implies full access it did not have is worse than one with an honest gap in it.

What the report contains

• Date, address, weather at the time of inspection and the access method used
• Photographs of each element, captioned
• Covering type, approximate age bracket and condition
• Drainage assessment: box gutter or eaves gutters, sump, overflow provision, downpipes
• Flashings, parapets, chimneys and penetrations
• Observations from the roof cavity
• A prioritised findings list — act now, monitor, note for later
• Indicative remedial scope if you have asked for it

Written in plain language, so a conveyancer, a strata manager or a family member can read it without a glossary.

Inspections across the two halves of the area

In the terrace belt — Newtown, Erskineville, Camperdown, Balmain, Rozelle, Annandale — the inspection is mostly about drainage and shared junctions.

Out through Strathfield, Burwood, Concord, Haberfield and Earlwood the roofs are detached with eaves, and the focus shifts to ridge pointing, valley condition, tile integrity and whether there is any sarking at all. The full list is on the service areas page.

Heritage status is noted where it is relevant to your options: much of the area falls within conservation areas across five councils, and that affects what can be changed on a street-facing roof. Hurlstone Park alone contains six conservation areas under the Canterbury-Bankstown LEP 2023.

Free quote inspection versus a written report

Two different things, and worth being clear about:

Free inspection and quote. No charge, no obligation. We look at the roof, explain what we find, and give you a written quote for work we would carry out. This is what most people need.

Documented written report. A separate, independent deliverable intended to be handed to someone else — a vendor, a buyer, a strata manager, an insurer. Priced on the size and complexity of the roof and the access required.

Book an inspection

Work is carried out by established, licensed and insured roofing contractors working to NSW Fair Trading requirements, and completed repairs carry a written workmanship warranty.

Call (02) 8000 1103 or request an inspection. If you want to know more about how this service works, see about us.