“Stoked!” That’s how roof tiler Paul Mooney reacted to the news that his family’s small tiling company had been recognised for its craftsmanship along with some of Australia’s top architects in the annual Think Brick architectural awards.
A small company that usually does residential roof tiling jobs, Mooney’s company Tim and Terry Tilers was highly commended for its work restoring the roof of a 1938 art deco apartment block in Sydney’s Point Piper to its former glory. About half of this year’s entries were from first-timers.
The project involved importing 7500 terracotta tiles from Portugal. It took a team of six roof tilers three weeks to finish the project at Wentworth Towers, a group of seven art deco apartments.
Mooney said it was a special project, larger than their usual contracts and with a much better view.
“We were going to work saying how lucky we were, looking out over the heads.”
When it was finished, his team stood on the roof and took a video. “Bloody beautiful!” said one.