Andrews Farm Sa

Northern Adelaide · South Australia

What's Andrews Farm made of?

Mostly 2000s estates on 400-600m² blocks, sitting on reactive clay, with low pressure to knock down and rebuild. City of Playford.

Who built Andrews Farm
2000s estates 50%1980s-90s brick veneer 30%Narrow-lot estates 20%

The eras, street by street

2000s estates

50%
2000s

Rendered or face-brick four-two-two, alfresco, theatre room, rainwater tank on the side. Blocks 450-600m². Volume builders on greenfield land.

1980s-90s brick veneer

30%
1980s-1990s

Brick veneer with a Colorbond or concrete-tile roof, ensuite, formal lounge nobody uses, double garage under the main roof by the 90s. Rendered feature walls arrive late.

Narrow-lot estates

20%
2010s-2020s

Two-storey or long single-storey on 300-450m², black window frames, Colorbond Monument roofs, solar on most, 6 or 7-star rated. Very few established trees yet.

Typical block
400-600m²
Typical frontage
12-16m
Rebuild pressure
Low

Under the floor

Soil

Reactive clay

Moderately to highly reactive clay (Class M to H). Seasonal movement causes hairline cracking in brickwork and render. Modern slabs are engineered for it; older strip footings were not. Consistent moisture around the house is the whole game.

In the walls

  • Leaking showers and balconies are the era's defect
  • Dozens of halogen downlights
  • Engineered stone benchtops (safe to live with, not to cut)
  • Estate covenants still in force
  • Asbestos possible to about 1987
  • Halogen downlights against insulation
  • Leaking showers as waterproofing membranes reach 25-35 years
  • Grey polybutylene pipe in some 90s homes
What each of these costs to fix

How the streets are changing

Nearly complete. Second owners are adding verandahs, sheds and solar.

The thing locals know

Named for the farm it was. The drainage swales through the estate are the old creek lines.

Time machine

What's changed in Andrews Farm since Nan bought

House prices in years of wages, decade by decade, what was standing when, and what her block does now.

Open the timeline

Questions about Andrews Farm

Do houses in Andrews Farm have asbestos?+

Less likely than most suburbs. Andrews Farm is dominated by post-1990 homes built after asbestos cement sheeting left the market. Older sheds, fences and any pre-1990 pockets are the exception.

What soil is under Andrews Farm?+

Reactive clay. Moderately to highly reactive clay (Class M to H). Seasonal movement causes hairline cracking in brickwork and render. Modern slabs are engineered for it; older strip footings were not. Consistent moisture around the house is the whole game.

Can I subdivide a block in Andrews Farm?+

Low subdivision pressure: Streets look much as they did. Occasional renovation, very little demolition. Typical blocks are 400-600m². Check the zone and minimum site area in the Planning and Design Code for the exact street.

Street-level generalisations from council heritage studies, ABS dwelling-age data, soil classification maps and BuildPilot partner site reports. Every street has exceptions. A soil test, a building inspection and the council's overlay map beat any suburb profile, including this one.

Cookies on. Learn more