Repoint or Full Restoration? How to Tell What Your Roof Needs

Two roofers can look at the same tile roof and quote wildly different numbers, and both can be honest. One is pricing a repoint. The other is pricing a full restoration. Knowing which your roof actually needs is the difference between a sensible spend and a large one.

What a repoint is

Repointing deals with the ridge caps — the tiles running along the peaks and hips. The old pointing is raked out, the bedding underneath is checked and repaired where it has failed, and a flexible pointing compound is applied over the top.

It is a targeted job. Nothing happens to the field tiles, and the roof is not coated. If your ridges are cracked and shedding mortar but the rest of the roof is sound, this is all you need.

What a full restoration is

A restoration is the whole surface: high-pressure or low-pressure clean depending on the tile, replacement of broken tiles, rebed and repoint of every ridge, repairs to valleys and flashings, then a primer and two coats of roof membrane.

It is several days of work and several times the price. It is the right call on a roof that is tired all over — faded, porous, patchy, with pointing gone and a scattering of cracked tiles.

Telling them apart from the ground

• Ridges crumbling, mortar in the gutters, but the field tiles still look even in colour? Repoint.
• Whole roof faded and blotchy, moss on the shaded pitches, several cracked or slipped tiles visible? Restoration territory.
• Tiles that look chalky and absorb water rather than shedding it — a dark patch that stays wet long after rain? The surface has gone; that is a restoration at minimum.
• Cracks running through many tiles across the field, or a roof someone has already restored once? Get a replacement quote alongside, and compare honestly.

The upsell to watch for

The common one is a restoration quoted on a roof that needs a repoint. It is easy to justify — the roof does look better afterwards — but if the tiles were sound you have paid several times over for a cosmetic improvement and a coating that will need redoing.

The reverse happens too, and is worse: a repoint sold on a roof whose tiles are failing. The ridges look sharp for a couple of years while the actual problem carries on underneath.

Ask for photos. Any roofer quoting either job has been on your roof and can show you the pointing, the tile surface and the valleys. A quote with no evidence behind it is a number, not an assessment.

Where cleaning fits

A wash is not a restoration, and should not be sold as one. It is, however, the cheapest way to find out which of the two you need — with the moss and grime off, the condition of the tiles and pointing is plainly visible.

If you are unsure, start there. We will clean the roof, photograph what is underneath, and tell you whether you are looking at a repoint, a restoration, or a replacement conversation.

Crown Roofers is licensed in NSW (471250C) with $20 million public liability, and every job carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.