Roof Painting Shellharbour
The colour is the easy part. What decides whether a roof coating lasts fifteen years or two is everything underneath it: the existing finish, the repairs, the cleaning and the preparation. That is where we spend the effort.
- Tile and metal roofs
- 10+ years experience, fully insured
- 10 year warranty on completed roof painting
A tired-looking roof is not always a worn-out one
Fading, staining and patchy colour are what usually prompt the call, and they are worth fixing. But how a roof looks tells you very little about whether it is ready to be coated.
A perfectly respectable-looking stretch of roof can sit right next to cracked pointing, loose fixings or a flashing that has given up. So we check the condition before we talk about colour. If your roof needs repairs first, we would rather do them than paint over them and watch the coating fail.
Will your roof actually hold a coating?
Paint is not a universal roof remedy, and a quote should tell you what preparation is included and what is excluded rather than implying otherwise.
We will recommend painting when
- The surface can be prepared properly so the coating actually bonds.
- Any repairs the roof needs can be done first, and priced separately.
- The material suits coating, and the existing finish will take a new one.
- What you want is a better-looking, better-protected roof, which is exactly what it delivers.
We will tell you to do something else when
- The roof is leaking. Coating will not fix that and we will not pretend it will.
- The old coating is failing so badly it has to come off first.
- Components have failed rather than just weathered.
- The covering is at the end of its life, in which case you want a replacement, not paint.
Two different jobs with the same name
There is no single roof paint formula. Concrete tile and coated metal behave differently, need different preparation and fail in different ways when someone gets it wrong.
Concrete tiles
Porous, and usually needing a clean, repairs and a primer or sealer before any colour goes on. Ridge capping frequently needs repointing at the same time, and we quote that separately so you can see it.
Terracotta tiles
Glazed terracotta rejects coatings and should not be painted. We clean and repoint it instead, and we will tell you straight if painting is not right for your roof.
Metal roofs
Faded Colorbond and other metal roofs respray well with the right preparation and a metal-specific system. Corrosion, fixings, laps and junctions all get assessed first.
Previously painted roofs
Usually fine to recoat. Sound old coatings get cleaned and primed over. Failing ones have to be stripped back first, or the new system fails with the old one.
Want to know if your roof is worth painting?
Tell us the material and what it looks like now. We will look at it, tell you what it actually needs, and put a free quote in writing.
Most of the work happens before the colour
A typical roof painting job runs three to four days, weather permitting. Day one is the noisy one, and it is when you find out what your roof actually looks like under the grime.
Check
Assess the surface, the existing finish and anything needing repair first.
Clean
Strip back the build-up, protecting gardens, tanks and the neighbours from runoff.
Repair
Broken tiles, ridge capping and anything else agreed, before coating.
Mask
Walls, glazing, gutters, solar and everything nearby protected from overspray.
Prime
The bonding coat. It looks chalky and flat, and it is meant to.
Coat
The colour coats, where the transformation actually happens.
What paint will not do
Painting can be a stage of good roof maintenance or part of a restoration. What it is not is a shortcut past a roof problem, and this is where the industry earns its reputation.
It will not stop a leak
If water is getting in, something has failed and needs repairing. Coating over it hides the evidence and buys you nothing.
It will not fix failed components
Cracked capping, broken tiles, rusted valleys and tired flashings need doing as work in their own right. We quote them as separate line items.
It will not make an old roof new
If the covering is at the end of its life, paint is money spent on a roof that needs replacing. We will say so.
Colour will not be perfectly uniform
Substrate texture, replacement tiles, shade and previous work all affect how the finish reads. We aim for an even application and we will be honest about what to expect.
Start with what is on the roof now
We paint tile and metal roofs for homes and commercial properties across Shellharbour and the surrounding suburbs, within about 20 km. The most useful thing you can tell us first is the material and what the current finish is doing: faded, chalky, patchy, peeling, or previously coated by someone else.
Mention any repairs the roof has had, whether the ridge capping looks sound from the ground, and whether you have noticed any leaks. If there are leaks, we deal with those first. Coating a roof with an unresolved leak is the fastest way to waste the money.
What roof painting costs
Every roof is quoted in writing after we have looked at it. The ranges below are a guide only and cover most Shellharbour homes; size, pitch, access and the condition we find can move a job outside them either way.
Most tiled homes, cleaned, prepped and coated
$3,500 – $8,500
Metal roof respray
$3,500 – $7,500
Add ridge repointing where capping needs it
$300 – $600 per section
Assessment and written quote
Free
Painting is the coating stage of a restoration. If your ridge capping or tiles also need work, we quote those as separate line items so you can see what you are paying for. Completed roof painting carries a 10 year warranty.
Roof painting questions
Straight answers to what people actually ask us. If yours is not here, just call and ask.
Does the roof need cleaning before painting?
Yes, always. Coating only bonds to a properly prepared surface, and skipping or rushing the clean is the single most common reason a roof coating fails early. It is not an optional extra.
Will painting stop my roof leaking?
No. Paint is a finish, not a repair. If water is getting in, something has failed and needs fixing first. Anyone telling you a coating will solve a leak is selling you the wrong job.
Can both tile and metal roofs be painted?
Concrete tile and metal both take coatings well with the right preparation and the right product. Glazed terracotta should not be painted, because the glaze rejects the coating. We clean and repoint terracotta instead.
Can you paint over a previously painted roof?
Usually yes. Sound old coatings get cleaned and primed over. A failing one has to be stripped back first, otherwise the new system comes away with the old one. We assess that before quoting.
Will the colour look completely even?
An even finish is the aim, and a good application gets very close. Substrate texture, any replacement tiles and previous work can still read slightly differently in some light, and we would rather tell you that upfront.
What does roof painting cost?
Most tiled homes run $3,500 to $8,500, and a metal roof respray $3,500 to $7,500. If your ridge capping also needs repointing, that is usually $300 to $600 per section and we quote it separately so you can see what you are paying for.
How long does it take?
Three to four days for most homes, weather permitting. We never coat onto a damp surface or ahead of rain, so the schedule follows the weather. You can stay home throughout, as all the work happens outside.
Is the work covered by a warranty?
Yes. Roof restorations and roof painting carry a 10 year warranty on the work we complete. You get the warranty in writing at handover, along with the detail of what was done.
Get a free roof painting quote
Tell us the roof material, what the current finish looks like and what you want it to look like. We will check whether the roof will take a coating properly, and quote the preparation and repairs as clear line items rather than folding them into one number.
Not sure painting is what you need? Compare roof restoration, which includes coating as one stage of a bigger job.
Prefer to talk? Call (02) 4215 8188.