Woodford: 70-metre gums over 600-metre-high roofs

Trees that are genuinely large

Woodford sits at about 609 metres, with Woodford Park in the middle of town, Mabel Falls Reserve on the north side and Murphys Glen and Wilson Glen to the south. There is a Mountain Blue Gum near Wilson Glen standing over 70 metres. That is not a decorative fact — it tells you what a roof here is underneath.

The village itself is strung along the Great Western Highway with Old Bathurst Road and The Appian Way behind it, and the state-listed Woodford Academy on the highway is a reminder that people have been maintaining buildings here since the convict road era.

Free inspection and quote: (02) 4703 5000.

Branch strike is the main event

On the western plains the main roof hazard is hail. Here it is a limb. Saturated ground, wind, and a mature eucalypt directly over the house is all it takes, and a limb does not need to be large to break three tiles, bend a valley iron or punch a hole through old sheeting.

What that produces:

• Broken and displaced tiles, often several at once in a line
• Dented or split metal sheeting and bent cappings
• Valley irons crushed or lifted, which then leak sideways under the tiles
• Gutters pulled off their brackets by falling debris
• Litter dumped on the roof in quantity, damming water immediately

If a limb has come down on your roof, make-safe comes first — see storm and emergency roof repairs and ring the number above rather than waiting to see whether the ceiling holds.

The continuous litter load

Even without a storm, a roof under trees this size is being fed leaf, twig and long strips of bark all year. Bark is the worst of it, because it mats and holds water. Twice-yearly gutter and valley clearing is a sensible baseline here, and some blocks genuinely need more.

Nearby

Hazelbrook is immediately east, Linden immediately west, and Lawson two stops along. Also useful: gutter repair and replacement. Complete suburb list.