Roof repointing in Kalamunda, Mundaring and the Hills
Updated October 2026
The mortar holding your ridge capping in place has a working life, and across most of the Perth Hills that life ended some time ago. Repointing is the first job the local roof stock asks for, because the City of Kalamunda's own planning strategy, written in 2013, records that the majority of housing across the district went up in the 1960s. Read forward to now and that is around sixty years of hot summers and wet winters working on original rigid cement mortar. When the pointing cracks and falls away, ridge caps loosen, tiles slip, and water finds the roof cavity.
We are a referral service. You tell us what the roof is doing, we pass it to an experienced, insured local roofer who works your suburb, and they call you back with a free quote.
Repointing and rebedding: what is the difference?
Two layers hold your ridge capping on:
- Bedding is the thick mortar base the ridge caps sit on. When it fails, caps rock loose and need rebedding.
- Pointing is the finishing layer over the bedding that seals and locks everything in. Modern repointing uses flexible pointing compound rather than rigid mortar, so it moves with the roof instead of cracking the way the original cement did.
A roofer will tell you which you need after getting on the roof. Often the bedding is still sound and flexible repointing over the lot is enough. Where caps are loose, sections get rebedded first.
Signs your pointing has failed
- Cracked or crumbling mortar visible along the ridge and hip lines
- Chunks of grey mortar in the gutters or on the ground after a front comes through
- Ridge caps that look crooked or have shifted
- Damp patches on ceilings near the ridge after heavy rain
- Birds or possums getting into the roof cavity through the gaps
Why the Hills are hard on ridge mortar
Two things work on it here. The first is the daily swing: these are hot, dry summers and genuinely wet winters, and rigid cement pointing was never going to survive sixty cycles of that without splitting. The second is the canopy. Under jarrah and marri the shaded pitch stays damp far longer after rain, so moss and lichen grow into the cracks and open them further, and bark and grit washing down the roof scour the ridge lines on the way.
The older villages make it worse again. Darlington and Glen Forrest were settled in the 1880s and 1890s and Kalamunda from the 1890s, so plenty of roofs in Darlington, Glen Forrest and around the Kalamunda town centre are on their second or third generation of capping work already.
What repointing costs
Guide pricing only, drawn from Australian cost guides rather than a Perth price survey. Full repointing on an average house typically runs $2,000 to $3,500, depending on the length of ridge and hip lines, the pitch and the access. Small jobs are often priced as a minimum callout rather than by the metre. Rebedding sections adds to the cost. If the whole roof is tired, it can be worth pricing a full restoration at the same time, because cleaning, repointing and coating done together costs less than booking each separately. Our roof restoration cost guide covers the numbers.
Safety and licensing
Ridge work means walking the highest lines of the roof, so this is not a ladder-and-weekend job, and on a block where the ground falls away under the low side it is less forgiving again. The roofers we work with carry insurance and the right height-safety gear.
WA has no roofing-specific licence class, and that is not the same thing as roof work being unregulated. What matters is how your job is classified, and Building and Energy's own guidance on builder work notes that builder work can include re-roofing.
The regulator is Building and Energy. Builder work is building work that needs a building permit and is valued at $20,000 or more, or $50,000 or more for a Class 10a building, meaning a shed, carport or private garage, and it must be carried out by a registered building contractor or an approved owner-builder. Work that needs no building permit can be carried out by anyone whatever it costs. So there are two questions to ask rather than one. Ask your local government, which is the permit authority, whether your job needs a building permit. Then ask the contractor what registration they hold and check it with Building and Energy before you sign anything. Insurance and an itemised written quote are worth checking too, but they are not a substitute for that. A repointing job on its own usually sits under those figures, and combined with other roof work it can be a different matter.
Related services: tile roof repairs, roof cleaning and roof painting.
Frequently asked questions
How long does repointing last?
Flexible pointing compound typically lasts 15 to 25 years, far longer than the original cement mortar, because it flexes with the roof's movement instead of cracking.
Can I just patch the cracked sections?
Patching is possible and for isolated damage it is reasonable. But if one run of 1960s mortar has failed, the rest is the same age and the same mix, so most roofers recommend doing all the ridge and hip lines in one visit.
Does repointing stop my roof leaking?
If the leak is coming from failed ridge mortar, yes. If tiles are cracked or a valley has rusted or blocked, those need fixing too. A proper inspection finds the actual entry point before anyone quotes. If water is coming in right now, see roof leak repairs.
How long does the job take?
Most full repointing jobs on a single-storey home take one to two days, weather permitting. Rebedding sections adds time.