Reynella Sa

What's Reynella made of?

Mostly 1970s brown brick on 600-800m² blocks, sitting on reactive clay, with medium pressure to knock down and rebuild. City of Onkaparinga.

Who built Reynella
1970s brown brick 40%1980s-90s brick veneer 30%Infill townhouses and rebuilds 20%Villas and cottages 10%

The eras, street by street

1970s brown brick

40%
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.

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.

Infill townhouses and rebuilds

20%
2000s-2020s

Two or three homes where one 1960s house stood: Torrens-title courtyard homes, hammerhead battle-axe blocks, occasional two-storey townhouse rows.

Villas and cottages

10%
1850s-1910s

Bluestone or sandstone fronts, brick quoins, slate or corrugated-iron roofs, a bullnose verandah and 3.3m ceilings. Rooms off a central hall.

Typical block
600-800m²
Typical frontage
18m
Rebuild pressure
Medium

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.

See the soil-report red flags a builder reads on ground like this

In the walls

  • •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
  • •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
Known villains here:Reactive clay and cracked wallsAsbestos in the eaves, walls and fence
Decode your Reynella house by era

How the streets are changing

Old Reynella village is protected; the 1970s streets either side are starting to subdivide.

The thing locals know

Some of the state's earliest vineyards were here. The odd stone winery outbuilding survives in a backyard.

Time machine

What's changed in Reynella 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 Reynella

Do houses in Reynella have asbestos?+

Likely in the older stock. About 40% of Reynella 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 Reynella?+

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 Reynella?+

Medium subdivision pressure: A knockdown or a subdivision every few streets. Character is shifting but the original stock still dominates. 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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