Ridge tiles

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saff

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Any roofers/builders out there?

Just had 2 quotes to re-point the ridge tiles and hips on my house and garage.

First guy said there would be no need to remove the ridge tiles but just to rake out the old mortar and re-point. £920 This guy has done 2 properties in my road and his work looks good and the property owners seem to be happy.

Second guy said he will need to remove and re-bed all the aforementioned then point up. He's currently doing the roofline of a neighbour. He gets 5-star reviews online. £1650

My question is: Am I better going with the guy who will remove and re-bed or the other on the basis that if it aint loose don't remove it?

Any thoughts?
 
I'm not a roofer but the first option is a patch job IMHO.

My son-in-law recently had his roof done and was presented with the same two choices, I advised to go with the second option.
Turned out a couple of ridge tiles were loose and one was cracked, so a more complete job was the correct option.
Roofer was very good and actually took video and stills of the work as he progressed.
 
I'm not a roofer but the first option is a patch job IMHO.

My son-in-law recently had his roof done and was presented with the same two choices, I advised to go with the second option.
Turned out a couple of ridge tiles were loose and one was cracked, so a more complete job was the correct option.
Roofer was very good and actually took video and stills of the work as he progressed.
Your son in law got a good contractor then. Seem to be few and far between in my neck of the woods. Unless scaffolding is required I still don't "get" the prices quoted for pointing a ridge and hips nowadays.
 
I'm not a builder either but £1650 seems quite a lot.

There are no materials involved apart from some mortar and unless he lives in a stately home there shouldn't be a vast amount of labour involved either.

I would be tempted to ask the guy what his hourly rate is.
 
I'm not a builder either but £1650 seems quite a lot.

There are no materials involved apart from some mortar and unless he lives in a stately home there shouldn't be a vast amount of labour involved either.

I would be tempted to ask the guy what his hourly rate is.

Yeah, seems high to me as well.
4-bed detached, average size and separate garage.

I'll keep getting quotes for now.
 
It does seem a high price for a job he'll do in a day with very little outlay for materials.
Roofers, like plumbers can and do comand a high rate of pay.

I was quoted £250 to have my chimney repointed. After I laughed, the quote dropped to £150 which I accepted. It took 20 mins for two men. I still overpaid:doh:
 
A neighbour is having some roofing patch-up work done by his son, who is builder, and they're working off a tower which he said is a bit iffy but it'd be £650 to scaffold the house (smallish detached).
 
I was quoted £250 to have my chimney repointed. After I laughed, the quote dropped to £150 which I accepted. It took 20 mins for two men. I still overpaid:doh:

What on earth did they do in 20 mins? The house next door to us had theirs done - it's just a normal 60's house on an estate - and the guy spent a whole day on it.

Do agree sometimes they do things a lot quicker than they say though - daughter had water coming in above a window and the felt had all rotted away. Everyone where she lives seems to use the same local builder and he quoted £300 to do it an a day. Attached neighbour had the same problem and he was quoted £350. Builder dropped a lad off in the morning and the lad had done them both by mid-afternoon!
 
What on earth did they do in 20 mins? The house next door to us had theirs done - it's just a normal 60's house on an estate - and the guy spent a whole day on it.
I watched them do it. One scraped out the dead mortar and the other had a bucket of muck and trowel and was following him round the chimney repointing. They finished with bucket handle joints. I was impressed it was done so quickly.

I bet the guy who did next door to you charged so much he hung the job out to make it appear good value:D
 
Definitely take the second option, just pointing will not last. As to whether the quote is fair, it of course depends on the size of the house and the condition of the ridge tiles,i.e how many need to be replaced, and the cost of scaffolding. To all the posters who think it's too much I wonder how much it would cost to get you to work at roof ridge height.
 
Thanks for all of your replies, I'll get a few more quotes in.
 
Ridges and hips are a pain in the backside to strip off and re-lay and so to do it without a scaffold around the property is very dangerous and deffo a 2 man job. The way to do it is by putting the ladder on the top lift and laying it on the roof. Obviously, the steeper the roof the more dangerous it is and the hips are the trickiest part. Buckets of cement are heavy.

A re-point for just under a grand is a waste. Get them stripped and re-bedded. They will probably break a lot of the fittings and a load of tiles as well.

If you think the quote is a bit lofty try doing it yourself!!
 
Ridges and hips are a pain in the backside to strip off and re-lay and so to do it without a scaffold around the property is very dangerous and deffo a 2 man job. The way to do it is by putting the ladder on the top lift and laying it on the roof. Obviously, the steeper the roof the more dangerous it is and the hips are the trickiest part. Buckets of cement are heavy.

A re-point for just under a grand is a waste. Get them stripped and re-bedded. They will probably break a lot of the fittings and a load of tiles as well.

If you think the quote is a bit lofty try doing it yourself!!
Thanks for your reply Darrell.

I did think the quote was a bit "lofty" which was why I came to you good people for advice.

Maybe it wasn't, a few more quotes will give me a better idea.
 
Thanks for your reply Darrell.

I did think the quote was a bit "lofty" which was why I came to you good people for advice.

Maybe it wasn't, a few more quotes will give me a better idea.
No worries. If you want anymore advice then just ask.

I’ve tiled dozens of houses..all off scaffolds. TBH in this day and age I think if a roofer was rebedding hips & ridges with no scaffold and had an accident he would be totally screwed by h&s and maybe the customer could be as well. Duty of care etc.
 
No worries. If you want anymore advice then just ask.

I’ve tiled dozens of houses..all off scaffolds. TBH in this day and age I think if a roofer was rebedding hips & ridges with no scaffold and had an accident he would be totally screwed by h&s and maybe the customer could be as well. Duty of care etc.
Exactly right. However if the prices quoted do not include scaffolding they seem pretty excessive. Astonishingly there are many contractors round here who will do this work without scaffold. (presumably they also have no liability or pa insurance either)
 
Latest quote from a local roofer recommended a dry ridge system, which I'd never heard of. I googled it and found many favourable reports as opposed to a mortar re-bed. Some guys also said they preferred the traditional method but that was just their choice. Anyone have any experiences/thoughts?
 
Latest quote from a local roofer recommended a dry ridge system, which I'd never heard of. I googled it and found many favourable reports as opposed to a mortar re-bed. Some guys also said they preferred the traditional method but that was just their choice. Anyone have any experiences/thoughts?
It goes in quicker and depending on the brand, have a ventilated system as well.
 
On new build I always use dry ridge/dry verge systems.
Guaranteed water tight and will not blow off in the next gale.
Current client though thinks they know best - don't know where this is going at the moment........................
 
I thought it was a requirement nowadays to use a mechanical fixing method on new builds? Ridge and hip tiles cannot be fixed solely by mortar.
 
I thought it was a requirement nowadays to use a mechanical fixing method on new builds? Ridge and hip tiles cannot be fixed solely by mortar.
It could well be but the OP isn’t having a new house built.
 

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