Craigmore Sa

Northern Adelaide · South Australia

What's Craigmore made of?

Mostly 1980s-90s brick veneer on 600-800m² blocks, sitting on reactive clay, with low pressure to knock down and rebuild. City of Playford.

Who built Craigmore
1980s-90s brick veneer 60%1970s brown brick 25%2000s estates 15%

The eras, street by street

1980s-90s brick veneer

60%
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.

1970s brown brick

25%
1970s

Brown brick veneer, mission-brown aluminium windows, ducted evaporative on the roof, a family room off the kitchen and a pergola out the back. Project homes from the big volume builders.

2000s estates

15%
2000s

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

Typical block
600-800m²
Typical frontage
18m
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

  • 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
  • Asbestos still present in wet areas and eaves to the mid-80s
  • Single-glazed dark aluminium windows
  • Original ducted systems at end of life
  • Some concrete driveways and slabs cracking on reactive clay
What each of these costs to fix

How the streets are changing

Established family suburb with almost no demolition.

The thing locals know

Sloping blocks toward the Little Para mean a lot of split-level 1980s homes and a lot of retaining walls due for replacement.

Time machine

What's changed in Craigmore 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 Craigmore

Do houses in Craigmore have asbestos?+

Likely in the older stock. About 25% of Craigmore was built between the 1920s and 1980s, the peak asbestos period. Eaves, wet-area sheeting, fences and sheds are the usual places. Test before you drill, sand or demolish.

What soil is under Craigmore?+

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 Craigmore?+

Low subdivision pressure: Streets look much as they did. Occasional renovation, very little demolition. Typical blocks are 600-800m². 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.

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