Roofing in Camden, Argyle Street and Beyond

Camden is the oldest roofing job in this district and the most careful one. The town centre around Argyle Street sits inside a heritage conservation area, with the church spire on the hill above it and the Nepean River flats below, past Onslow Park and the town farm.

Roofing here is as much about what you do not do as what you do.

Heritage changes the brief

Camden Council assesses work on heritage items and within the conservation area on whether the proposed roof form and material suit the building. That means the usual shortcuts are off the table:

• A modern trapezoidal profile on a building that was always classic corrugated is a problem, not a saving.
• An original terracotta roof is usually best cleaned, repaired and re-pointed rather than coated in a modern colour.
• Changing the roof form, raising a parapet or adding a dormer is not exempt development.
• Replacement material and colour may need to be justified rather than simply chosen.

Straightforward like-for-like re-roofing is generally exempt development in New South Wales, but inside a conservation area that is exactly where the exemption gets complicated. Raise your address at the inspection and we will tell you honestly whether council needs to be involved before anyone orders anything.

The technical work

Older Camden roofs bring faults you rarely see in the 1980s estates:

• Box gutters between planes or behind parapets, which cannot overflow safely outward and need correct fall, a sump and an overflow provision.
• Verandah and skillion roofs at very low pitch, where profile choice and lap detail decide whether it leaks.
• Early galvanised steel that has reached the end of its life and needs replacing rather than patching.
• Terracotta tile that is often still sound under the moss, because the glaze does most of the waterproofing.

Free inspection

Call (02) 4601 5100. Free inspection, photographs, and a written itemised quote. Most Camden work falls under roof restoration or careful roof repairs.

Next door we also cover Elderslie, Narellan and Currans Hill. See the service areas page for everywhere else.