Dry ridge system. Any good?

ANGLICANPAT

Thanks all. for the useful info More thinking and weighing up to do I think , before moving on with it.

woodsteve

My roof ridge needs work doing and want to change to a dry ridge system.
My roofer says that there is not enough room under my existing low profile ridge tiles to fit a bracket and batten, so wants to change all the ridge tiles !
The roof has a ridge board. Can a batten be fitted directly on top of the ridge board and used to screw in the screws, without using the brackets ?

Furts

woodsteve wrote: »

My roof ridge needs work doing and want to change to a dry ridge system.
My roofer says that there is not enough room under my existing low profile ridge tiles to fit a bracket and batten, so wants to change all the ridge tiles !
The roof has a ridge board. Can a batten be fitted directly on top of the ridge board and used to screw in the screws, without using the brackets ?

Redland and Marley will have standard simple drawings for situations such as yours. Get these and see what is recommended.

In general, dry ridge has come about to de-skill, and cheapen roof covering. It also adds to the profits of the roofing companies. Ridges bedded on mortar existed in a satisfactory manner for centuries, and there are not compelling reasons for ditching the concept now. The problem has been roofers cannot be bothered to do mortar ridges in a competent manner, or they simply do not know what they are doing. As an example, there are millions of homes which have never had dentil slips built in.

To give a example, my home has many new roofs - none are done with dry ridges. All have dentil slips, tile thinning, correct sand types, and correct cement ratio.

woodsteve

Thanks for that Furts
My (was ) preferred roofer and another seem be fixated with following the limited instructions in the kit.
The tiles are Marley, so I will try their site for info.

Furts

Be careful here. If you want a guaranteed/product support type back up you should have a Marley system to go with your Marley tiles. There are cheap, dry ridge kits out there, but Marley will not approve of them. But some may be rebranded and sold as Marley - which is what you have to check out.

As an example, I have a Marley abutment ventilator - not very good quality, as rare as hens teeth it seemed, but it will be supported by Marley if problems occur.

woodsteve

Thanks again Furts, I will bear this in mind.

tony6403

Furts wrote: »

Redland and Marley will have standard simple drawings for situations such as yours. Get these and see what is recommended.

In general, dry ridge has come about to de-skill, and cheapen roof covering. It also adds to the profits of the roofing companies. Ridges bedded on mortar existed in a satisfactory manner for centuries, and there are not compelling reasons for ditching the concept now. The problem has been roofers cannot be bothered to do mortar ridges in a competent manner, or they simply do not know what they are doing.

There are compelling reasons.
Code of Practice BS5534 - which is mandatory.

The use of mortar as a sole means of fixing roof tiles and fittings is now deemed as insufficient. Not only should careful consideration be given to the creation of a suitable roof mortar through the correct sand and cement mix, but tiles or fittings bedded with this mortar must also be accompanied by a mechanical fix.
Avoiding mortar with its associated risks and maintenance will always be best practice, and the changes to BS 5534 should assist in the continued adoption of dry fix. Ridge and hip systems that are mortar and maintenance free (BS 5534 compliant), are able to contribute ventilation to meet the requirements of BS 5250.

Furts

Ridge tiles can come off, and I know mechanical fixing has been around for years. I stand by my view, for ordinary buildings, typical ridge tile failure is because of poor workmanship.

Just because a CoP has been issued does not mean anyone will be enforcing it. Add to this it will have be written in consultation with the roof industry manufacturers and one is entitled to look at it with a degree of cynicism. Further, it has given rise to cheap, poor quality ridge systems which are not going to stand the test of time.

Dry ridge has come about, and as the years go by it will be yet another maintenance issue for home owners.

chrisw

tony6403 wrote: »

There are compelling reasons.
Code of Practice BS5534 - which is mandatory.

Can you have a mandatory Code of Practice? Who would enforce it? Or is this now a requirement for Building Regs?

malc_b

I believe building regs should enforce it but they didn't seem that interested to me. One advantage of dry ridge is that you can vent from the ridge which helps keep the loft dry. This is recommend even for breathable underlays.

BTW on a new roof latest standard is to double fix all tiles at edges and single fix all the rest. This comes from standardising our building regs with Europe I believe. Europe's view is wind speeds are higher and buildings not as strong or some such hence the need to improve roof fixing.

My current roof, with add insulation at ceiling level has seen this issue. What air leaks into the loft is warm and damp to rises to ridge where it cools and condenses. Vents at the eaves allow cold air to flow in but being cold it stays under the warm air so doesn't help the condensation under the ridge. To cure this I've inserted polystyrene wedges in the (old) roofing felt.