Tea Tree Gully Sa

North-East Adelaide · South Australia

What's Tea Tree Gully made of?

Mostly 1970s brown brick on 700-1,200m² blocks, sitting on hills soils on slope, with low pressure to knock down and rebuild. City of Tea Tree Gully.

Who built Tea Tree Gully
1970s brown brick 35%1980s-90s brick veneer 30%Hills homes on sloping blocks 20%Infill townhouses and rebuilds 10%Villas and cottages 5%

The eras, street by street

1970s brown brick

35%
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.

Hills homes on sloping blocks

20%
1880s-2020s

Stone cottages in the old townships, then 1970s-90s split-levels and pole homes on steep bush blocks, then modern estate stages on cleared land.

Infill townhouses and rebuilds

10%
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

5%
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
700-1,200m²
Typical frontage
18-25m
Rebuild pressure
Low

Under the floor

Soil

Hills soils on slope

Shallow clay loam over rock, often steep. Movement is less about reactivity and more about slope stability, stormwater and cut-and-fill. Retaining walls become the biggest hidden cost, and bushfire rules shape the whole design.

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

How the streets are changing

The old village core is heritage-flavoured, the slopes above are 1970s-90s family homes staying put.

The thing locals know

Streets in the Hills Face Zone need a BAL assessment for most new work.

Time machine

What's changed in Tea Tree Gully 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 Tea Tree Gully

Do houses in Tea Tree Gully have asbestos?+

Likely in the older stock. About 35% of Tea Tree Gully 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 Tea Tree Gully?+

Hills soils on slope. Shallow clay loam over rock, often steep. Movement is less about reactivity and more about slope stability, stormwater and cut-and-fill. Retaining walls become the biggest hidden cost, and bushfire rules shape the whole design.

Can I subdivide a block in Tea Tree Gully?+

Low subdivision pressure: Streets look much as they did. Occasional renovation, very little demolition. Typical blocks are 700-1,200m². 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