Ridge tile off roof

[curious]

A ridge tile has fallen on to the flat roof can I put it back on with grip fill or do I need to chip away the old cement and fit it with new cement. Just thinking grip fill would be easier.

[DerbyBorn]

"Phil L" wrote in news:kpFrA.945909$A [e-mail]:

Mine have an embeded galvansied wire to embed itself into the cement. Seems a good idea. .

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

A couple of years ago a builder told me that he only charges ?20 per ridge tile. This is taking them down, clean up and putting back.

[Andy Burns]

Neighbour's fence is in my garden and someone's wheelie bin went flying down the road (why they put it out over 24 hours early when there was a storm due, I don't really know).

[curious]

Is gripfill good enough for an exposed roof?

[Huge]

Thanks for reminding me I need to go and put mine our now the wind has dropped.

(We've lost a small tree, and three or four fence panels. The external thermometer blew away, but I found it undamaged & stuck it back up.)

[Brian Gaff]

I'd be tempted first of all, assuming I really wanted to go on my roof, which I do not, that the first thing to do is check the rest of the times and the cement fillets etc, after such a battering as otherwise there might be more work to do. I have been told that if my roof needs work to be sure to get a person who has a proper roof ladder as on old roofs the underlying structure might not take the work of an amateur clambering about on it. There have been a lot of injuries and even deaths of people 'just putting a ridge tile back' As for kind of gluing it back, well temp repair, sure, but I'd not expect it to last if you are e bonding it to cement that has already cracked once to let the tile come off in the first place. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Hmm, well maybe but if that were the case then the water would get in far more than it does, at least on my roof. Brian

[curious]

Will get a local builder in when the weather is better to check all the ridge tiles.Really just looking for a temporary seasonal fix.

[Harry Bloomfield]

curious pretended :

I was a bit concerned about our ridge tiles seeing the winter through, so I had a roofer take a look whilst he was fixing the chimney flaunching. He said there is never a need to re-bed them, they just re-point the edges without lifting them. He charged £70 for redoing them all, end to end.

[charles]

From the ground, our roofing man said they needed repointing (after 100 years) but on close inspection rebedded them. He wqas up there to replace some dropped tikes.

[Vir Campestris]

Is this some arcane term I don't know, or have you been dropping Yorkshiremen off your roof?

Andy

[Andrew]

That was a waste of £70.

If they are loose, and just sitting on the mortar then a bad storm with plenty of buffetting (violent up and down air movements) then they could be dislodged.

Take them all off, remove the old mortar and give a good scrub with a wire brush to remove any dust.

Ridge tiles need to be bedded in a very strong mortar mix that adheres well to the tile.. This gives it added mass to keep it in place.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Andrew wrote on 28/02/2017 :

I'm not convinced. It would need the wind to get under them, to lift them off - repointed as they were, the wind cannot get under.

They were rebedded some 15 years ago, but not properly pointed at the time. I had him round to reflaunch the chimney, as there were indications below of obvious ingress. His reflaunching entirely fixed that issue, but he pointed out at the same time, that the ridge needed to be repointed, but he didn't have time to do it there and then. It was obvious to me that it needed to be done, so I made arrangements for him to return.

[Lee]

replying to Harry Bloomfield, Lee wrote: Sorry but this never is a great idea. If you re-point, there will only be a very thin layer of mortar which will crack and fall away within a year or so. Always re-bed and it will last for years and years.