Repair 40 Year old concrete tile roof or Colorbond entire roof?

Hi All,

I purchased a house approx 2 years ago as an investment property.

There is an area of the roof which is fairly flat pitch roof which causes leaks inside the house.

Realestate already repaired the roof once but the leak is back again. Another roof repairer has advised that the leak will continue until this part of the roof is converted to colorbond so the water can escape correctly which makes some sense.

So given the roof is old and I don't want to keep getting these $1000 repairs on an old roof, should I replace the entire roof with colorbond or just repair the section which keeps leaking with colorbond?

What's the pros/cons of doing this?

 

Cost?

I wonder if the partial replacement can be claimed as repair. I think replacing the entire roof is capital work.

 

I would check with your tax accountant to see whether the $20k immediate asset deductibility could be used in your situation then you at least get immediate write off.

My random points include - tiles tend to be cheaper than colorbond and can partially be replaced to repair. Min pitch on a tile roof is 15 degrees, custom orb 5 degrees, trimdeck 2 degrees. If pitch is less than 15 degrees I think your question is answered. If it is greater than 15 degrees I would be looking at how it was installed as this would be suitable for tile product and partial replacement of roof would be cheaper. Get out the roof tile supplier or any of them frankly, a sales rep will help you resolve problem as they will get to fix it too. If you don't know pitch then if you get on the roof (or on a ladder so you can reach the roof with your smart phone) and then go to www.blocklayer.com/pitchangle.aspx on your phone and click start measuring it will measure the pitch of your roof and then you have your answer.

 

I like colorbond. All my IPs are under construction or to start so all new and all colorbond foe maintenance free as long as possible.

 

Where is property located?
You will have tie down issues with Colourbond as opposed to concrete tile roof if it is in Wind category.

 

Easier to use extra screws rather than stainless steel wire ties on each tile (@ 22 tiles/m2)

 

I recently had this issue.. I changed to a corrugated zincalume roof and I'm very glad we did.. The only down side is the initial outlay. We found the difference in acoustics during intense rain was negligible.

Plenty of upside - it gave the house a huge facelift. Thermal insulation was improved with anticon sarking. And it's obviously watertight now.

 

Yes BUT.....Tie down for concrete tiles doesn't need to go down to substrate, colour bond roof needs to be tied continuously down i.e. threaded rod or straps down to floor/slab.

 

What are you smoking @Pier1? http://www.stramit.com.au/sites/def...design_supplement_-_now_includes_lhl_data.pdf

Nowhere did I say that any roof covering needs to be tied to the slab/footing - clips or ties through the hole in the tile are fixed to the battens not slab which may be several storeys below. What do roofing screws fix to?

 

have you actually done this before? I.e. Certifier requested it for building approval?

Imo, for a 40yr old house it's not required. The weight of the tiles wasn't considered part of the tie down - because their is no tie down for a house this age. Since you're not changing the tie down, there should be no need to upgrade it. Especially not the whole structure. It will most likely contain asbestos wall lining which requires removal to install the tie down rods. The whole project is turning into a $80k+ job..

Changing from tile to steel on a new house would though.

 

Also refer to: 483-roof-tiles-guidance-note which is referred to by: Linky and to pg 15 of the Boral design specification Linky

 

That write-off applies to Assets purchased by small businesses. And a roof is not going to be classed as an Asset - it's structural.

 

Without having seen the roof and it's condition I will just speak about what I did to one of my IP's recently. Purchased it for a bargain knowing the roof had minor leaks and the ceramic tiles were old. A cheaper option for me was to replace all of the cracked/chipped tiles that were found. Paid for the ridges to be recapped and had the whole roof 2pac sprayed. Water no longer absorbs into the ceramic tiles which makes them heavy and can cause future problems. Roof looks great with the new colour and at a fraction of the cost of a full replacement.