35 year old marley roof flat tiles

robotrobo

Advice needed please ,as i am in a dilema.

Our det 2 bed bungalow was built in the year 1980 & i recently priced up for replacement upvc soffits & bargeboard repair which came to £400. i also will require ridge tile replacement in the next 2 years, i guess 25 ridges @£4 =£200 + labour, so possibly it will cost up to £1000 for the 2 jobs to be done.

The marley ridge tiles have been on for 35 years or so & look in good order, the old roof felt has got a bit brittle when touched, do you think it would be viable to re -felt & batten & replace the existing roof tiles? & then i would replace with a dry ridge replacement & also have the damaged soffit replaced at the same time.

I know that the 90% of the bargeboards do not require to be replaced ,as i did it 9 years ago , & would not need to be removed if i decided
to renew the felt & batten idea.
We are 67 year old & the roof tiles could possibly out live us anyway,
we have no known current problem with the roof at the moment , other than the damage to the soffit at the front on one side , a 5 mtr length & new dry verges for the £400.
If in 20 years time & the tiles do need replacing , then surely it could be done with a straight forward tile swop as the felt should be as new.

What do you people think of my ideas ?, its a bit of independant advice i need on which way i proceed to do the job, thats if i do .
please will you advise this old goat .
thankyou

Furts

IIRR when your roof was installed in 1980 Redland were offering a 100 year guarantee as standard. They certainly were by 1987. Marley were in competition, but put on the spot I cannot recall what they were offering. 50years comes to mind, but I would have to check on this. Regardless, all manufacturers build in a margin of safety because they do not want claims under guarantee. It is reasonable to assume your tiles were manufactured to last what was then deemed the life expectancy of a house. This was 60 years.

There should be many years of life left in your tiles. Plus if your ridge tiles are bedded and solid, then they will probably remain like this for years to come.

robotrobo

Furts wrote: »

IIRR when your roof was installed in 1980 Redland were offering a 100 year guarantee as standard. They certainly were by 1987. Marley were in competition, but put on the spot I cannot recall what they were offering. 50years comes to mind, but I would have to check on this. Regardless, all manufacturers build in a margin of safety because they do not want claims under guarantee. It is reasonable to assume your tiles were manufactured to last what was then deemed the life expectancy of a house. This was 60 years.

There should be many years of life left in your tiles. Plus if your ridge tiles are bedded and solid, then they will probably remain like this for years to come.

hi furts.
Thanks for your swift reply.
Do you think that if i remove all the roof tiles & re-felt & new battens & re-place the same tiles ,& finish off with dry verges & dry ridge system that i would achieve a very good result?.
At the moment it looks like about £4k for a total re-roof including scaffolding.
Like i say the roof is fine at the moment(slight repair damage needed to front soffits£350), which would be fixed if i went the replace existing tile route.
The felt is fairly brittle, but left untouched should be ok for a few years or so .
My thinking behind all this !, is my age now & i like to keep on top of any forceable problem before i get to old.
I have the funds , but doesnt mean i want to chuck it away for nothing.
I have manually inspected a removed tile & to the untrained eye it looks perfectly ok , & it looks thick enough to continue to do the job, also , will i get a roofer to replace the existing tiles?.

Furts

I do not see the logic in your proposal. The accepted wisdom would be to leave the roof until it is at the stage of replacement - perhaps when the tiles are 60+ years old. If you wish to strip the roof then accepted wisdom would be to renew the tiles - some will be broken, some will get broken, on elevation may be more worn than another. Your existing tiles may not have nail holes for re - fixing, and have been laid in place back in 1980.

Factor in the labour cost for carefully removing the existing tiles and storing them whilst the roof is stripped and it makes less sense. Of course your felt is not ideal - it was a poor quality product when it was installed. But it continues to serve its purpose provided it is left undisturbed and this is what everybody chooses to do!