The roof is the part of a house buyers look at least. On a viewing, attention goes to the kitchen, bedrooms and floors. Yet roof repairs can be the biggest bill after buying a used house, especially if the frame is damaged too.
South Kalimantan gets a lot of rain, so roofs and gutters work hard all year. This guide helps you read the warning signs from below, from the ceiling space and from outside.
Start with the ceiling
The ceiling mirrors the roof. Stand in each room and look up, especially at the corners and near outside walls.
Signs to note:
- Ring-shaped stains in yellow or brown. These are marks from water that seeped in and dried.
- Sagging gypsum boards or long cracks. Gypsum that has been wet loses its strength.
- Peeling paint at the top of walls, right under the roof.
- Black spots or mould, usually in bathrooms or rooms that stay shut.
- A musty smell when you walk into a closed room.
Stains that were recently painted over can still show faintly. Hold your phone torch to the side, parallel to the ceiling, so differences in colour and texture stand out. If one patch is clearly newer paint than the rest, ask why.
Look into the ceiling space
If there’s an access hatch, usually in the bathroom or hallway ceiling, ask to look up with a torch. You don’t need to climb all the way in. Your head and shoulders are enough to see a lot. Be careful, because gypsum ceilings won’t hold your weight.
What to look for up there:
- Daylight. Small gaps in tiles or metal sheets show clearly from inside during the day.
- Water trails on timber, steel or the top of the ceiling boards.
- Animal nests or droppings from rats or bats.
- Electrical cables hanging loose or with messy joints. Our guide to checking the wiring in a used house covers that in full.
Light steel trusses
Many houses built in the last twenty years have light steel (baja ringan) roof trusses. They’re termite-proof, but that doesn’t make them trouble-free.
Check for:
- Rust, especially near gutters, under leak points and at truss ends close to outside walls.
- Screws and joints. Rust often starts at the screws or where the coating was scratched during installation.
- Bent members or anything that doesn’t look straight. That can point to overloading or poor installation.
Houses near the coast or a humid riverbank need extra attention, because damp air speeds up rust.
Timber frames
Older houses and houses on stilts usually have timber roof frames. Ulin (ironwood) is very durable, but not every part of the frame is ulin.
Check for:
- Rotten timber that feels soft when pressed with a screwdriver.
- Termite signs, such as earthen tunnels or wood that sounds hollow when tapped. See our guide on checking for termites.
- Sagging trusses or a ridge line that looks bowed from outside.
The roof covering from outside
Look at the roof from the yard, the street, or a neighbour’s upper floor if you can. Binoculars or a phone camera with zoom help.
- Clay or concrete tiles that are cracked, shifted or thick with moss.
- Metal sheets (seng or spandek) that are rusty, holed or missing fasteners.
- Timber shingles (sirap) that have lifted or gone missing.
- The ridge and roof junctions, where the mortar may be cracked.
- Where the roof meets a wall, a common leak point when the flashing has failed.
Gutters
Bad gutters send water over walls and into ceilings, even when the roof itself is fine.
- Blocked gutters full of leaves or rubbish. Check for big trees near the house.
- Valley gutters between two roofs, common in terraced houses, are a frequent and hard-to-trace leak source. Look at the ceiling right under them.
- Rusty gutters or leaking joints.
- Downpipes that are blocked or empty straight against a wall or the foundation.
- Wrong gutter slope, so water sits in the gutter.
Also look at where rainwater ends up. On swampy ground, as in Banjarmasin, runoff that isn’t led into a drain can flood the yard. Our guide to inspecting drainage explains what to look for.
The roof and the heat inside
A roof isn’t only about leaks. In a tropical climate it also decides how hot the house gets in the afternoon. On a daytime viewing, feel the temperature in an upstairs bedroom or any room directly under the roof.
Things to ask about or look for:
- Whether there’s heat insulation under the roof covering, such as a foil layer.
- Whether the ceiling space is ventilated, for example with vents in the gable walls.
- How high the ceiling is, since a low ceiling under a metal roof feels much hotter.
Heat problems can be fixed, but they cost money. Our guide to keeping a house cool in the tropics has ideas.
The best time to check
Visit during heavy rain or soon after. Leaks, seepage and overflowing gutters show up right away. Tips for viewing in different seasons are in our guide to inspecting property in the rainy and dry seasons.
If you can’t come when it rains, ask the seller directly: when was the roof last repaired, which part, and by whom? Ask for receipts or photos if they have them.
If you find a problem
Roof issues aren’t an automatic reason to walk away. What matters is knowing the scale:
- Note and photograph everything you find.
- Ask a builder or contractor you trust to inspect it and give a written estimate.
- Separate small repairs (replacing a few tiles, clearing gutters) from big ones (replacing the frame or the whole covering).
- Use the estimate as the basis for your offer, or ask the seller to fix it before handover.
The short version
Start with the ceilings, look into the roof space with a torch, check the covering from outside, then the gutters and where the water goes. Visit in the rain if you can. Put roof repair costs into your numbers before you make an offer, not after you move in.
If you’re looking at used houses in Banjarmasin or nearby, the Vorneo Property team can join your viewing and help you note the condition of the house before you negotiate.
