Rooftop Tile and Waterproofing Removal, Windsor QLD

The job

Rooftop tile removal and waterproofing removal on the top floor of an apartment building in Windsor, Brisbane, looking straight at the CBD. NCR, a remedial builder, was re-waterproofing the private rooftop terrace, its planter boxes, the plant area, the parapet tops and the narrow concrete ledges outside the glass balustrades. Before any of that could happen, the tiles had to come up and the old membrane had to come off the slab.

NCR brought in Perfect Concrete Care for the demolition and surface preparation. Our Queensland crew was on the roof through May 2026, working inside an occupied building with access through the common lobby and residents' apartments.

What the rooftop tile removal involved

• Breaking the porcelain tiles and bedding off the terrace with electric breakers and carrying the rubble out in tubs
• Grinding the old waterproofing membrane and tile adhesive off the slab with walk behind floor grinders, back to bare concrete
• Hand grinding the upstands, wall junctions, planter troughs, plant area and parapet tops that the floor machines could not reach
• Stripping and grinding the external concrete ledges outside the glass balustrades, with the crew roped to anchor points
• Running every grinder into a dust extractor, and protecting the floors of the apartments the crew walked through
• Surface preparation across the whole terrace so the waterproofer had a clean, sound slab

What made it hard

The terrace is on the top floor of a building people live in. Everything came up and went down through the common lift and lobby, and some of the access was through residents' apartments, so floor protection went down first and the route was cleaned every day.

The external ledges sit outside the glass balustrades, above the street. They could only be done by a crew member in a harness, roped to anchor points installed for the job, working in short runs along each ledge.

It was an exposed roof in May. Rain stops grinding, because a wet slab will not grind clean, so the crew worked the covered pergola areas on wet mornings and went back to the open terrace once it dried.

How it was done

The tiles came off first, broken out with electric breakers and loaded into tubs. Then walk behind floor grinders on dust extractors took the membrane and adhesive off the open terrace in passes, while hand grinders on shrouds did the edges, upturns, planters and parapet tops.

The ledges were done last. Anchor points went in, the crew harnessed up and worked along each ledge from the balcony side, stripping and grinding in short sections. The terrace, planters, plant area and ledges were handed back to NCR as bare, clean concrete.

Outcome

The whole rooftop terrace, its planters, plant area, parapet tops and external ledges were handed over as bare, clean concrete at the end of May 2026, ready for NCR to re-waterproof.

Lessons learned on this job

Every job teaches the crew something. These are the ones we took from Windsor.

What worked

• Taking every tile off before starting the grinders, so the machines only ever worked on membrane and adhesive
• Floor grinders on the open slab and hand grinders on every edge and upturn, all on extractors, so the dust stayed off the neighbours
• Keeping the covered areas for wet mornings, so rain cost less time

What was difficult

• Access through a lived in building and through residents' apartments
• External ledges above the street that could only be done roped on
• An exposed roof where rain stops grinding until the slab dries

If you have something similar

Remedial builders, strata managers and waterproofers re-doing a rooftop terrace or balcony need the tiles and old membrane off cleanly, with the building still occupied. Have a look at our waterproofing membrane removal Brisbane, concrete grinding Brisbane and coating and membrane removal pages, see another rooftop job for NCR at Infinity Apartments, Hamilton, or get in touch.