Waterproofing & roof care in Universitas
One of Bloemfontein's great established suburbs — fifty-year-old roofs and walls brought back to full protection with complete systems.
Universitas grew up around the university from the 1950s onward, and its streets carry some of Bloemfontein's most characterful established homes. Age is the defining factor for its building envelopes: original tile roofs at fifty-plus years, ridge mortar long past brittle, original damp-proof courses expiring, and generations of paint layered on plaster.
These are exactly the homes where complete systems outperform patching most dramatically. A fifty-year-old roof patched at the visible leak fails somewhere new with every storm season; restored as a system — repair, RidgeSeal ridges, primer, reinforced details, colour-matched roof paint — it protects for years and looks superb doing it.
The suburb also carries a large stock of student rental and subdivided properties whose maintenance ran behind. For new owners bringing one back, we sequence the envelope work sensibly: roof and water entry first, damp remediation second, decoration last.
What we do in Universitas
Recent projects
Local questions
We just bought an older Universitas home. Where do we start?
With an envelope inspection — roof, ridges, valleys, parapets, damp readings. Water entry gets fixed first; decorating a wet building wastes money. We provide the full picture and a sensible sequence.
The ceiling stains in a different place after every storm. Why?
On a tile roof that age, the underlayment is likely perished, so any cracked tile or open ridge lets water wander before it drips. Restoration addresses the surface as one system rather than chasing stains.
Is there paint that will stick to our old chalky walls?
Not directly — chalked surfaces need consolidating first with a penetrating primer like Penetrar. Then the coating system bonds to the wall instead of to dust. That priming step is the difference between five years and one.