Updated October 2026
Medina is the best restoration ground in this whole service area, and it is worth saying why, because the history explains the roofs.
A town built on purpose, in the 1950s
The State Government agreed in the early 1950s to build an oil refinery at Kwinana and committed to housing the workers. Medina was planned and built by the State Government as that town, designed by Margaret Feilman, and the heritage record describes its 1950s layout as still largely intact, with modest post-war vernacular houses through it.
What that means for a roofer is simple and unusual: a whole suburb of roughly the same age, built to roughly the same standard, at roughly the same point in its life. Concrete tile of that era, still on its original rigid cement ridge mortar, is at or past the end of a serviceable pointing life. If your neighbour's capping is cracking, yours very likely is too.
Rebedding and repointing is the job
- Bedding is the mortar base the ridge caps sit on. On stock this age it is often broken down, and caps rock under hand pressure. Those sections have to be cut out and relaid.
- Pointing is the finishing layer over the bedding. Modern flexible pointing compound moves with the roof instead of cracking the way the original rigid cement did.
- Both are priced by the linear metre of ridge and hip, not by roof area, which is why a hipped roof with lots of short runs carries more than a simple gable of the same size.
- Valley iron is the other end-of-life item on this stock, and replacing it means lifting the tiles either side of the run.
Coat a Medina roof without doing the capping first and the coating has sealed nothing. The honest sequence is clean, repair, rebed, repoint, then sealer and two top coats. Rebedding and repointing has the detail.
Industrial neighbours, honestly stated
The Kwinana Industrial Area is close, so dust in the gutters and valleys is part of ordinary maintenance here, and commercial and shed roofing is normal local work. We will not tell you industrial emissions are eating your roof coating, because there is no evidence for that and inventing it would be dishonest.
Also nearby
We also arrange work in Calista and Kwinana Town Centre. Related services: rebedding and repointing, tile roof repairs, roof painting.
Frequently asked questions
Is Medina heritage listed?
The Medina Townsite is recorded on the WA heritage inventory, which is a record of the planned 1950s town rather than a blanket restriction on every house. Only places on a local Heritage List carry legal protection and may need the council's approval before external work, so if you think your property is one, check with the City of Kwinana first.
Why does every roof in my street have the same problem?
Because they were built as one project at one time. Rigid cement pointing from the 1950s was always going to crack through decades of expansion and contraction, and in a suburb where the whole stock is the same age it reaches that point together.
Can I just patch the worst sections?
You can, and it tends to buy months rather than years, because all the mortar on your roof is the same age and the same mix. Most roofers do all the ridge and hip lines in one visit while the access gear is up.
Is restoring a 1950s roof worth it?
When the tiles are sound, very much so. It comes back for a fraction of a reroof and the flexible pointing lasts far longer than the cement it replaces. A roofer should tell you plainly if yours is past that point.