Dry hips and ridges

[JimmyR]

Can anyone confirm if a traditional slate roof repair can have dry hips and ridges? I have photo examples of a finished job but don't know if it looks right or not. It just doesn't look right to me as the hips/ridges don't look properly connected. Can anybody advise please? Thanks!

[nod]

Yes they can All new roofs have to have dry hips and ridges Including slate 

[JimmyR]

Thanks. Does the repair job in the photos look professional?

[Redbeard]

I know we know this, but Roofing Superstore says:

"A dry ridge system simply involves fixing ridge and hip tiles to a roof without sand or cement mortar, but instead with screws and clamps, which fix each ridge tile to the roof, with waterproof unions beneath the screws to divert water away from the join."

 

I could be wrong but the ridge and hip tiles in your pics *seem* to show 'bog-standard' tiles (which would, 'in the old days', have been bedded in, and pointed with, mortar) fixed 'dry'. Therefore (a) it looks odd (to me) and (b) it makes me question what is holding them on. It may be that there is some clever bracketry underneath, in which case fine (-ish), but personally I feel those tiles do not look right without pointing. (I do appreciate, BTW, that the 'adhesive qualities' of mortar mean that an awful lot of 'wet fixed' ridge and hip tiles are actually just 'sat on top' a relatively short while after installation.

 

On 17/05/2024 at 23:06, JimmyR said:

Does the repair job in the photos look professional?

 

'Professional'? Open to debate.

 

'Good'? To me, no. It is not in line with my aesthetic leanings, but then I love MZs!

 

Happy to be disagreed with!

 

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, Redbeard said:

makes me question what is holding them on. It may be that there is some clever bracketry underneath,

Mine is a dry ridge on slate, there are small brackets and screws to the ridge beam or rafters.

[Nick Laslett]

The perfect thread to use the random photo I took of my ridge tile showing the fixing method. I still marvel that one screw and some plastic tabs are all that holds the ridge together. I look at the giant steel beams they made me install for the roof and wonder at the dissonance of modern buildings regs. 

 

[Redbeard]

2 hours ago, Nick Laslett said:

The perfect thread to use the random photo I took of my ridge tile showing the fixing method. I still marvel that one screw and some plastic tabs are all that holds the ridge together.

 

Yes, I get that with those special (?) tiles, but those the OP shows look like bog-standard overlapping 'Victorian' (well, mine are) tiles. Not sure how you could 'secret fix' them?

 

But in answer to the OP's original Q, "

Can anyone confirm if a traditional slate roof repair can have dry hips and ridges?"

 

I am pretty sure I have seen older roofs 're-ridged' with those such as @Nick Laslett shows. 

 

@Nick Laslett, I take it there is a 'placcy cap' goes over the joint...??

[Nick Laslett]

2 hours ago, Redbeard said:

 

@Nick Laslett, I take it there is a 'placcy cap' goes over the joint...??

Not with my ridge tiles. The picture is how the roofer left it. A cap might finish it off a bit neater. It doesn’t even look very rain proof to me. I wonder if there should be a cap. 

[Gone West]

27 minutes ago, Nick Laslett said:

I wonder if there should be a cap. 

When I did mine there wasn't a cap. IIRC the rain proof layer was under the ridge tile with the ventilation at the edge by the roof tile.

[ProDave]

On 17/05/2024 at 00:05, JimmyR said:

This picture shows a hip iron at the bottom to stop the hip tiles sliding downwards.  The rest look to be held in place by virtue of gravity?  Were they bedded in mortar or any other adhesive?

 

[ProDave]

On 17/05/2024 at 00:05, JimmyR said:

 

 

 

What stops wind driven rain running down the wall behind the tiles?  I see no flashing?  What are the air bricks for?

[JohnMo]

56 minutes ago, ProDave said:

What stops wind driven rain running down the wall behind the tiles?  I see no flashing?  What are the air bricks for?

Isn't that just another building, so you see a roof of one building and wall from another?

[JimmyR]

Thanks for all your comments. They were very helpful.