Roofing in Claymore, Streets Named for Painters

Claymore is the suburb where the street signs read like a gallery wall — the names were drawn from Australian painters. It was built as a State Government housing estate in the growth decades, alongside Airds, Minto and Macquarie Fields, and much of it has been through renewal since.

One construction window, one failure window

A suburb roofed inside a couple of years behaves differently to one roofed over fifty. Claymore roofs do not fail at random; they fail together, and in a known order.

1. Ridge and hip pointing goes first. Rigid cement mortar, cooked and cooled through decades of inland summers, crazes and drops out.
2. Bedding mortar softens and caps start to rock, which lets wind get under them.
3. Galvanised valley irons perforate from the base of the trough upward.
4. Tile surfaces wear back, so the tile absorbs water instead of shedding it.

That is a roof restoration scope on a roof whose tiles are still sound, and a replacement scope on one whose tiles crack when walked.

The sarking problem

Most tile roofs of this vintage were laid directly onto battens with no sarking membrane underneath. In ordinary rain that is fine, because the tiles shed water. In a southerly, rain is driven up under the tile laps and sideways past the ridge caps, and there is nothing to catch it.

It explains the single most common complaint we hear from this part of the district: a roof that is perfectly dry most of the year and leaks only in wind-driven rain. The fix is pointing, flashings and localised sarking at the problem area, not a whole new roof.

Newer builds

Claymore also has newer housing from the renewal program, much of it in Colorbond. Those roofs are a different trade — screws, flashings and penetrations rather than mortar. See metal and Colorbond roofing.

Free inspection

Call (02) 4601 5100 for a free inspection and a written itemised quote. No obligation, no doorstep decisions.

Adjoining suburbs we also cover: Blairmount, Eagle Vale and Woodbine. The whole district is on the service areas page.