Dry roof ridge tile systems vs mortar

Pretty sure you can buy ladders on Amazon these days.

Check your local classifieds, someone is selling a 6m scaffold tower near me for £300 on Facebook marketplace.

Why would you need to take a week off to do it?

If you don’t want to do high level work, that’s fine, it’s not for everyone. No need to make excuses up, just say so. The alternative is to pay someone top dollar for easy work.
 
danlightbulb said:
If I was hiring something I would, can't do it after work now it's too dark and would need to make sure I can do the job in the hire time.
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Hire companies are usually flexible about extending hire especially if you mention beforehand as trades have the same issue. I had to wait weeks for one item as the previous hire kept extending.
 
This is the tower I would buy probably.

Home Master DIY Scaffold Tower | BPS Depot

Make DIY safer with this easy-to-use scaffold tower. Lightweight yet strong, it’s perfect for painting, repairs, and maintenance at home.
www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk

It has a platform height of 5m. I think that would be enough to get me at least chest height with the guttering.

Problem still is the narrow access. At only 1m wide, I wouldn't be able to use the stabilising feet on this tower as they are 1.2m wide. I could maybe still use those extending poles on the side assuming the angle of them can be changed. But the tower will be confined so shouldn't be able to tip side to side anyway.

Storing it after would be a pain, I don't have a garage, nor a shed big enough to keep this in. It would have to be left outside at the back of the garden.
 
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I had one similar to that years ago and it was worth ever pound note -All 75 of them. I found a scaffold supplier and treated myself to a load more planks - They cut them to size and put metal staps on the ends-

I had a load of eyebolts and when put scaffold up drilled hole in bricks and put one in then strapped the tower to it -Made it feel secure.
Don't forget your long ladder but you can climb up.
ALSO - make sure the planks are good and strong - I was taking mine down and was standing on one on top of first level when it gave way -I was leaning over the side lowering something -my belly hit top and bounced me head first straight over -Put my arms over my head and hit floor with my left arm - Not sure how high 6-8ft.
It was my lucky day.

Ps - Buy decent tarp sheet and cover it well when you store it -put something over the top of uprights -like a bean tin just to stop water etc.
 
Hi all,

Revisiting this thread a year later as Ive done nothing and spotted some more mortar falling out of the ridge tiles today.

Here's some photos of the ridge tiles. Its pretty clear there isn't much mortar left in there at all on most of them. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get it all done, but would appreciate any opinions.

Some areas still have mortar in, but a couple of gaps - such as the large hip on the right of picture 1 below. But the ridge above is mostly empty of mortar. The smaller hip in picture 1 below has some areas which have broken away.

Unfortunately I don't think this is a job I can do myself, maybe a couple of ridge tiles I could do if I could get up there but not a whole roof.

PXL-20250820-083716172.jpg


PXL-20250820-084228893.jpg


PXL-20250820-084301673.jpg
 
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200sols said:
You can do the whole roof. Nothing about it is hard you just need the time.
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Whilst I appreciate your optimism, Ive got to be realistic here. We are talking 8m high perched on a ridge, dislodging, cleaning and rebedding 16-20 m of ridge and hip tiles, dragging buckets of mortar up there only from a ladder or portable tower, with no experience doing it and only a few hours at the weekends to work on it.

I think to state this is reasonably a DIY job in circumstances like that is a stretch. Would you seriously consider doing this yourself on your roof?

Yes its technically easy, a bit of mortar and neat pointing and its done. But its logistically hard, dangerous without the right equipment and full scaffold, and will take weeks if not on the job full time.

If this was an outhouse roof 3m off the ground, sure I'd have a go. A full house roof 8m off the ground and extensive in size - I think we need some realism here.


Im not trying to fob it off or be lazy here. If I thought I could realistically do this job well and I had the equipment and time, I'd be tempted to try it. Indeed I am tempted given the potential cost saving. But its fantasy - this job is for the pro's I think we should accept that.

That being said, I need advice on how to get the best outcome, reputable firm and not be ripped off in price given how difficult it is to get reasonable quotes for work these days.
 
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Not optimism, I've done it and its a lot easier than you think. You don't use towers or ladders you get scaffold.

That said if you do get a firm in dont entertain anyone who says they will do this using ladders.. after that you're down to the usual trade lottery.

The height thing, I was the same before I had my solar installed but I went up the scaffolding then to clean the gutters and it's actually not that bad. Since then I've done a few roof jobs including replacing ridge tiles and fitting a velux. It's honestly very basic stuff.
 
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I've had a quote in and I really liked the guy from the company who turned up. He had a good look around, recommended some things I hadn't considered and seemed like he would do a good job. Evidence of previous work on his Facebook page and he also does local authority work on school roofs.

£3800 including all ridge and hip tiles with dry system, stripping and recovering a small flat roof, dry verge system at gable end, a few roof tile vents installed, repair leaky guttering, repoint valleys if needed. Inc scaffold.

£1000 for the chimney removal including demolition to below roofline level, new felt, battens and matching tile over hole. This will get split 50/50 with my neighbour as shared chimney.

I'm going ahead on this I think.

Another quote still to come but not in yet.

Ps scaffold quote alone from separate firms was £750/£800.
 
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