Flat Roof Patios in Mundaring

The first thing we work out on a Mundaring quote is access. A six-metre sheet has to physically reach the back of the property, and a steep gravel drive with a tight turn at the top decides that before the design does.

Where a truck cannot get in, the material gets broken down into what can. That affects sheet lengths, beam sections and sometimes the whole span strategy for the roof.

The upside is placement. On a large block the patio does not have to sit against the house, and a freestanding structure over a fire pit, a pool or a view line is a genuine option rather than a compromise.

Most of the Shire of Mundaring is mapped as bushfire prone. Where the designation applies, a patio attached to or near the house is drawn into the bushfire construction requirements at the level assessed for the site.

Steel and Colorbond are a good starting point because neither burns. The detailing is what earns the rating: closing gaps where embers collect, gutter guard, non-combustible flashing at the wall, and care with anything timber under the roof.

It affects how the space gets used as well. A patio full of stored firewood, cane furniture and shadecloth on a 40 degree February day is an ember trap regardless of what the structure is made of.

Plenty of Mundaring properties are unsewered, running a septic system or an aerobic treatment unit with leach drains or irrigation lines somewhere in the yard.

You cannot put a footing through a leach drain, and you should not roof over one. Those systems need setbacks and access, and covering the disposal area can affect how well it performs.

So the first job is finding out where the system actually is. Older installations are not always where the paperwork says, and locating them properly beats discovering one with an auger.

The shire sits on the Darling Plateau, so the ground is lateritic gravel, clay and granite. Rock can be anywhere, and on a sloping block the depth to it changes across the same patio footprint.

Footings step to suit. Post lengths vary, pad sizes change where rock is shallow, and everything is set out from a level line rather than off the existing ground.

None of that is exotic. It just takes longer than a flat sand block, and the quote should say so honestly rather than the crew discovering it halfway through the install.

Many properties in Mundaring, Parkerville and Stoneville run rainwater tanks alongside or instead of a scheme supply. A patio adds roof area, and roof area is catchment.

Plumbing the patio into an existing tank is worth considering at design stage rather than afterwards. It changes where the downpipes go and whether a first-flush device is worth fitting.

Water not headed for a tank still has to be dealt with on the property. On tight hills soils that usually means more soakwell capacity than a suburban block with the same roof area would need.

A patio is a Class 10a structure, so a building permit from the Shire of Mundaring is required before construction. The application carries a site plan, elevations, structural engineering and a stormwater design.

It can be lodged uncertified for the shire to assess, or certified with a certificate of design compliance from a registered building surveyor already attached.

Bushfire adds a step for most addresses out here. Where the property is in designated bushfire prone area the construction standard has to be addressed, and depending on the proposal a bushfire attack level assessment may be needed with the application.

Larger rural and special rural lots have their own planning settings. Setbacks, outbuilding provisions and how much of the site is covered are worth checking against the local planning scheme before the design is finalised.

A Mundaring property usually has structures on it already. A steel shed, a tank, a carport, sometimes a stable, and they were rarely chosen as a set.

A patio is a chance to pull that together rather than add to it. Matching the roof colour to the existing shed, or picking the trim colour off the house, does more for the finished look than any detail on the structure itself.

Going the other way works too, as long as it is deliberate. A clearly different colour reads as an intentional addition, where a near miss on the shed colour just looks like the wrong sheet turned up.