Dry roof ridge tile systems vs mortar

[danlightbulb]

Hi all,

I had a guy round to remove a damaged roof aerial today. He talked to me after about some deterioration of my roof which is mainly a flat roof section, and the ridge tiles where the mortar is starting to break up.

He recommended using a dry ridge tile system instead of mortaring. I looked up and down the street and whilst quite a few houses have had mortar repairs, there are also several using this dry system.

Has anyone got any experience of it please and can vouch for this system over a traditional mortar repair approach?

Im not sure what the cost difference will be yet, which will also be a factor. I have quite a lot of ridge tiles on my house because the roof is a funny triangular shape.

Thanks
Dan

 

[danlightbulb]

Hi all.

I've had three quotes now for this work.

1. Local guy I hired off mybuilder to take down an old aerial from the chimney. This was the person who first flagged that there was some deterioration. £2300, that's just for the dry ridge replacement (using existing tiles) and the rear flat roof refelting.

2. Local roofer I found via google. The second quote again for the same scope was £2600 plus a scaffold tower hire. This was however including all new ridge tiles because he expected breakage if trying to reuse.

3. Local roofer (lives one street over) who a neighbour suggested as he has done work on several houses in the street in the past. The third quote I also asked for including full on fascia soffit and guttering replacement, as well as the ridge tiles and rear flat roof. I'd also at this point realised what 'valleys' were and so I asked to include repointing of those too. His quote is for £3600 for the roofing work and £2100 for the fascia soffits and guttering. This includes a full scaffold all round the house.


Not sure what to do here. I could try for more quotes. Or I could just take the risk and leave it for another year, two or longer. If I take the risk and something starts leaking obviously I'm then in for more hassle and cost down the line.

It's not something I can do myself.

 

[danlightbulb]

Seems very expensive. I had a full welsh slate re-roof done for £8k including 110 new slates. That included new fascia’s and guttering and re-point the chimney

Seems to be a pattern lately that all my quotes are above expectations. I'm not sure what I can do about it though, I'm doing my best getting multiple quotes per job. I'll get some more I guess.

 

[danlightbulb]

Is it really as bad as you think it is?

Honestly don't know. I can't get up there to inspect it myself. I can see from ground level that some of the mortar is falling out of the ridge tiles in a few places, but other sections are ok. It only takes one tile to come off though doesn't it, to break something or let water in.

The front bay flat roof has already been done but the rear hasn't. The photo I saw (don't have it) it looked pretty worn out. It's not currently leaking though, so maybe it will this winter or maybe it won't.

The fascia boards look poor visually (black gloss paint is peeling off the wood) but they are probably ok and if I could get up there I could try touching up. The guttering however is leaking at a couple of joints and I can't get up there to fix it because of the access problems.

What's the inside roof/from the attic look like? Is it felted?

It is felted yes. The roof structure itself is original but I think the roof is maybe 30-40 years old perhaps. That's guesswork. It's certainly not the original smaller tiles that a couple houses in the street still have, it's larger concrete tiles now.


It's a very unusual L shaped roof, it has a gable end at the front, an L shaped ridge, 3 hips and 3 valleys to it.

Difficult decision. Wait till it fails/leaks could be next month could be 5 years away. Or do the work preventatively knowing it's sorted.

 

[danlightbulb]

30 years old? I would sleep easy.

The main tiles are ok, it's the ridge tiles and flat roof. Mortar expected life isnt 30 years. Felt flat roof also beyond lifespan.

I could just get the flat roof done. It's only like 3 square meters. A few hundred probably.

But still have leaking guttering in places to sort.

 

[danlightbulb]

I did get the gutters cleaned out last year. If only I could get up there easily, I could replace a few fittings or at worse try some silicone myself. Horrible access though due to the narrow side entry.

 

[danlightbulb]

Are you sure you couldn’t do the gutters yourself? It’s so easy to replace the joints, they all just clip together.

In other words, how would a trades person get up there to do the work?

Yeah the side access where the longest run of guttering is, is only 1m wide so I can't get ladders up there and that's where it's dripping from. All quotes so far have said they need scaffolding to various degrees because of the side access.

Did he take any pictures of the issues while he was on the roof?

Yes and he showed them to me at the time but didn't send them. When I asked for them later he'd deleted them.

Do you have or know anyone with a drone?

No unfortunately not.

get them round and just ask for a roof survey. Don't tell them what you think needs doing and see what they come back with.

Yeah will try this.

 

[danlightbulb]

I did look at a portable scaffold tower. To buy one is around £800 for a 6m, or to hire one is around £100 a week plus delivery I assume. (edit - Monday to Friday hire including delivery is £170 for a 6m tower).

It would need a lot of planning. Id have to take the week off work, be confident in the weather to use it, and be sure I could get the appropriate fittings to connect to the old guttering already there.

Never assembled a scaffold tower before either, and would have to do it solo.


Using ladders, if I had access to some I'd give it a go, and if I don't feel safe I could just stop. But I don't, so I'd have to buy some extension ladders long enough to reach the area. I don't know anyone with any, and even if I did, be no way to transport them to me.

 

[danlightbulb]

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

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.

 

[danlightbulb]

This is the tower I would buy probably.

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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.