Dry ridge and ridge tile repairs in Bognor Regis

Repointing tidies a sound ridge, rebedding rebuilds a failed one, and the difference decides both the price and how long the repair lasts.

People use "repointing" and "rebedding" as if they meant the same job. They do not. Repointing means raking out the cracked outer joint of the mortar and filling it again, which only helps when the bed under each tile is still solid and gripping. Rebedding means lifting the ridge tiles, clearing off the old mortar and laying the tiles again on a new bed. If a tile lifts by hand while its pointing crumbles away, the bed has gone and pointing over it will not hold. Our page on whether to repoint or go dry-fix sets the choice out in more detail, and where the bed is sound, repointing is the cost effective answer.

2.1 Why bedded ridges fail

Mortar shrinks as it cures and keeps moving as the roof warms, cools and gets wet. Hairline cracks open at the edge of each tile, water gets in, and frost then widens them. Wind adds to the strain. Marley notes that where a roof is pitched below 30 degrees, the windward slope can see severe suction, and a tile held by nothing more than a tired bed is the first to be pulled up. Wienerberger makes a related point: the fixing a roof needs depends on its location, altitude and local wind exposure, so one answer does not suit every house.

2.2 What BS 5534 changed

BS 5534 is the British Standard for slating and tiling. After its 2014 revision, a ridge or hip tile is no longer left to depend on mortar by itself; it gets a mechanical fixing too. Marley's guidance goes the same way: every bedded tile or fitting, ridge included, should have a mechanical fix. Marley is also clear that installing to BS 5534 is not required by law. We treat it as the yardstick for a repair that is meant to last, which is why a rebed from us has a fixing through each tile as well as a fresh bed beneath it. The standard concedes that some old roofs, relaid with traditional or salvaged material, may not suit every recommendation, so on those roofs we agree the approach with you first. Our guide to ridge tiles and BS 5534 gives the longer explanation.

A rebed done properly is a quiet, orderly job. The tiles come off in sequence, the ridge line is set out with a string so the new run is dead level, and each tile is bedded, fixed and pointed before the next goes on. The quality of the finish shows from the street. The old mortar goes into bags with the rest of the waste, and the gutters are checked for the grit that dropped into them.

The hip is the line that runs down each outward corner of a hipped roof, from the ridge to the eaves, and it is capped with hip tiles much as the ridge is. Hipped roofs appear on residential streets, on bungalows, chalet bungalows and semis across the area, and every hip is a long run of bedded tiles exposed along its length. A hip iron is a small metal bracket fixed at the foot of the hip, stopping the lowest tile from creeping down the slope as the mortar softens. Many older roofs have lost the iron or have one that has gone loose, and that is often why the bottom hip tile has slid. Our page on hip tiles, hip irons and dry hip systems has the detail.

4.1 The verge

The verge is the edge of the roof over a gable wall. The tiles there are normally bedded on mortar over an undercloak, a strip beneath the edge tile that gives the mortar something to sit on. When that mortar falls out, wind gets under the end tiles and works them loose along the line. Dry verge swaps the mortar for caps that interlock and screw down to the battens beneath, so the edge is held by fixings and not by a bed. Our guide to replacing mortar verges on gable ends explains how it is fitted.

4.2 Where ridge, hip and verge meet

The three-way junction at the top of a hip, or where the ridge reaches the gable, is the hardest point to make weathertight and the hardest to make look right. Hip ends and ridge end caps must be cut and set so that water is carried onto the slopes and not into the joint. On a roof with a dormer the same job is repeated at the dormer's own ridge and cheeks. A cheek is the side wall of the dormer, and the lead dressed against it is a separate trade detail, covered on our lead roofing and leadwork page.

Ridge work often travels with other jobs: emergency roof repair after a storm, chimney repair and lead flashing renewal. Where a ridge ends at a stack we repair chimney flashing on the same visit. At the eaves we check the fascia, soffit and guttering for damage from fallen tile. Ridge work often travels with a wider roof repair. Flat roof sections are checked on the same visit, and we repair flat roof splits too. Flat roofing is a different material and method, so our roof repairs and emergency roof repairs pages cover those jobs. We repair roof faults in order of urgency.

Like-for-like ridge repairs seldom need consent, but listed buildings, conservation areas, old materials and wildlife can change the job.

Under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, work that leaves the outward look of a building materially unchanged is not development. That is why planning permission is not usually needed for a like-for-like ridge repair. Two caveats matter. A listed building needs listed building consent where the work would change its character, and Article 4 directions can remove permitted development rights in some areas. The directions Arun District Council has made in Bognor Regis and Aldwick remove no roof rights.

6.1 Building control and conservation areas

Building Regulations are a separate question. The Planning Portal's test for skipping a building control application is that under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is touched, and a ridge is a small part of either measure. Arun's building control team counts re-covering a roof as work needing approval, so if you are re-roofing more than the ridge, ask them or ask us. Where work is notifiable we deal with the notification and explain what the consent means. The Steyne and Waterloo Square conservation area dates from August 1979 with a July 1994 extension, and Aldwick Road from July 1994; in either, check with Arun's planning team before changing a material. Arun's notes on Aldwick Road say original slate has often been swapped for modern concrete interlocking tiles.

6.2 Older roofs

On listed buildings, the South Downs National Park Authority treats ordinary maintenance and small in-situ repairs in matching materials as outside listed building consent, but swapping a clay ridge for a different profile might not be. Matching the original ridge tile, bed and finish is often the point of the job. BS 5534 itself allows that traditional or reclaimed roofing may not suit its recommendations, so we agree the approach with you before work starts. Our guide to ridge and verge on period and listed roofs goes further.

Two more checks come before a ridge is stripped. Bats are protected by law, and GOV.UK lists repairing or replacing a roof among the activities that can affect them, so we watch for signs of a roost as we work along the ridge. And HSE tells owners of buildings put up or refurbished before 2000 to treat asbestos as present until proven otherwise, which matters on a cement-sheet garage roof. Asbestos cement roofs are fragile, so keep off them.