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Wellington

Roofing help in WellingtonBuilt for gusts, shakes and salt.

Wellington roofs work harder than most. At the airport, gusts top 63 km/h on 166 days in an average year, the city sits on an active fault, and homes near the harbour live in salty air. Tell us what's happening with your roof, and we'll find a Wellington roofer who specialises in that kind of work if we have one covering your suburb.

Find a specialist roofer in Wellington

  1. Your postcode and three quick questions
  2. We match you with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in your job
  3. They call you to arrange a quote. No obligation to go ahead.
  • Find My Roofer certified: insurance, specialty and LBP status (where needed) checked
  • Your details go to one roofer, never sold

What's different about roofs in Wellington

Wind is the main event

NIWA puts the airport's mean wind speed at 25.8 km/h, with gusts over 96 km/h on 24 days a year. Sheltered Wallaceville in the Hutt Valley averages 9.1 km/h, so exposure varies a lot. Every gust flexes sheets, ridge cappings and flashings a little, and over the years that works fixings loose.

Storms that have lifted roofs

The Wahine storm of 10 April 1968 brought the strongest winds recorded in any built-up area of New Zealand, with a 198 km/h gust at Kelburn, and roofs were lifted across the city. In June 2013 another storm blew roofs off and left 30,000 homes without power.

Rain depends on the hill you're on

The airport averages 957 mm of rain a year, while Kelburn, in central Wellington, averages 1,319.1 mm on a more recent set of normals. Wind pushes rain sideways and even uphill, so it finds gaps under flashings and around skylights that straight-down rain would miss.

A city on the Wellington Fault

WREMO says the city sits on top of the Wellington Fault, with many other active faults close by. A GNS-led study put the chance of the Wellington-Hutt Valley segment rupturing in the next 100 years at about 11%. For roofs, the worries are heavy tiles and old brick chimneys.

Salt air near the harbour

BRANZ's summary of the NZS 3604 exposure maps puts Wellington homes within 500 m of the coast, the harbour included, in zone D, the high sea-spray zone. That changes which steel products and fixings suit your house, so ask any roofer which zone they've assumed before they quote.

Character homes and the first state houses

Character precincts make it hard to demolish the city's pre-1930s homes, though the new District Plan cut them from 306 hectares to 86. New Zealand's first state house, opened in Miramar in 1937, had a concrete tiled roof. Roofs here run from early timber homes to mid-century tile, and each era wears out differently.

The roofing jobs Wellington homes need most, and why

Storm repairs come first: a lifted sheet, a loose ridge capping or a flashing letting in driving rain. See roof repairs in Wellington.

Spouting (gutters) copes with hill-suburb rain, gales on the brackets and salt near the coast; spouting in Wellington covers repair versus replacement.

Re-roofing here is often about weight as much as wear, swapping heavy concrete tiles for lighter roofing and taking out an old chimney in the same job. See re-roofing in Wellington.

Damp, shaded slopes grow moss and roofs near the water collect salt, so roof cleaning and moss treatment is a regular job. A tired but sound roof may suit roof restoration, and for a dark hallway, see skylights in Wellington.

Wind, quakes and staying safe

Don't go up on your roof, and never in wind or rain: a Wellington gust can arrive with no warning. Look from the ground or through a window instead. After an earthquake, keep people away from any side of the house where a chimney looks cracked or leaning. If water is near lights or fittings, turn the power off at the switchboard, and contact emergency services if anyone is in danger.

Quake, storm or wear: who pays for roof damage?

If your home insurance includes fire cover, as most policies do, you automatically have Natural Hazards Commission cover. It pays for earthquake and landslide damage to your home up to a cap for each event, and your private insurer covers anything above that. You claim through your insurer.

After a storm, the Commission covers your land only, and damage to the house is for your private insurer. Rust, wear and blocked gutters that overflow aren't sudden damage, so they aren't covered. See our guides to Natural Hazards Commission claims and storm damage claims.

Where we'd start in Wellington

Before winter, we'd get a roofer to check the fixings, ridge cappings and flashings, because that's what the wind works on first. If the house was built before 1970 and still has a brick chimney, we'd have that looked at in the same visit, and get a quote for removing it if a re-roof is on the cards. Near the harbour or the south coast, we'd ask every roofer to name the exposure zone they've assumed.

Want a roofer to take a look?

Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.

Find my roofer

How we fit in

We don't do roofing work ourselves. You tell us the job and your suburb, and we hand it to one checked local roofer who does that kind of work. If no one suitable covers your part of Wellington yet, we'll tell you straight away.

If your job needs a building consent, the roofer must be a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP), and our guide to checking an LBP shows how to look them up. When you're ready, we're here.

Services

Roofing jobs in Wellington

Roof repairs in WellingtonWind-loosened sheets, flashings, hail and quake damage: getting a Wellington roof repaired properly.Spouting in WellingtonOverflowing, sagging or rusting spouting in Wellington: repair or replace, and what the weather does to it.Re-roofing in WellingtonLighter roofs for a fault city, chimneys, wind zones and consent: re-roofing a Wellington home.Roof cleaning and moss treatment in WellingtonMoss on shaded slopes, salt near the harbour: cleaning a Wellington roof without damaging it.Skylights in WellingtonFitting or fixing a skylight in Wellington: flashings for sideways rain, hail and winter condensation.Roof restoration in WellingtonWhen restoring a Wellington tile or iron roof is worth it, and what wind, salt and quakes change.
Your suburb

Suburbs and areas around Wellington

Questions

Straight answers.

Does Wellington's wind mean my roof needs special fixings?
It can. Your site's wind zone has to be worked out using NZS 3604:2011 methods, and that sets how roofing is fixed. Greater Wellington's combined wind map says it can't be used to set a zone for design or consent, so ask your roofer how they worked yours out.
Should I replace my concrete tile roof because of earthquakes?
The Natural Hazards Commission recommends replacing concrete or slate tiles with lighter options like corrugated iron or metal tiles, or making sure the tiles are well secured to the framing. A single tile can weigh up to 4.5 kg. If yours are sound, having the fixings checked is a sensible first step.
Does it snow enough in Wellington to matter for my roof?
Rarely at low levels. Kelburn averages 0.9 days of snowfall a year, though snow settled on Brooklyn, Karori and Broadmeadows in October 2003. Hail is the more regular hazard, with 9 hail days a year at Kelburn, the most of the region's listed stations.

Ready for a roofer to look at it in Wellington?

Your postcode and three quick questions. We match you with a local roofer who specialises in your job, and tell you straight away if we don't have one near you.

Related help

Helpful next

Roof repairs in WellingtonWind-loosened sheets, flashings, hail and quake damage: getting a Wellington roof repaired properly.Re-roofing in WellingtonLighter roofs for a fault city, chimneys, wind zones and consent: re-roofing a Wellington home.Roofing in the Wellington regionWind, frost, floods and faults across Wellington, the Hutt, Porirua and Kāpiti, plus how consent works.Chimneys, earthquakes and when to remove oneWhy old brick chimneys fall in quakes, your options, and the consent and character rules.The Natural Hazards Commission and your roofWhat EQC became, what it covers for a damaged roof, the cap, the excess and how to lodge a claim.How to check a roofer is an LBPHow to look up a Licensed Building Practitioner, and when your roofing job actually needs one.

Where this information comes from

Every fact and rule on this page comes from the sources above, checked on the dates shown. How we write and check these pages.

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