Roof tiles repointing, possible?

noah1234

Hi,
I'm looking to renovate an old house. The roof is very old. The roof tiles are clay and the mortar between is gone in most of the roof.

I'm looking for either a 10 year cheap repair or a more expensive long term repair.

Can they be repointed, or do they have to be taken off one by one and re-built?

Is it a good idea to use the same old clay roof tiles? What kind of tiles would you use instead?

The structure is old, but seems still solid, is it a good idea to keep the old structure and only renew tiles and battens?

Thank you.

EssexExile

Do you mean on the ridges & hips or on the verges?

FreeBear

noah1234 wrote: »

The structure is old, but seems still solid, is it a good idea to keep the old structure and only renew tiles and battens?

Stripping the tiles off over more than 25% of the roof would require Building Control involvement. Replacing the current clay tiles with something else is possible as long as the new ones are no heavier. But much of the charm & character of an older property would be lost. Reusing the tiles would save quite a bit as long as they are serviceable.

Removing the ridge & hip tiles and bedding them back with fresh mortar is possible. But do look at the cost of scaffolding and labour, then compare it to the cost of a complete strip & refurbishment. The difference in cost wouldn't be as great as you might think.

noah1234

EssexExile wrote: »

Do you mean on the ridges & hips or on the verges?

Mortar in between each roof tile, mortar seems to have been used to secure them together, as they weren't screwed into the roof batten like new roof tiles.

grumbler

noah1234 wrote: »

/...as they weren't screwed into the roof batten like new roof tiles.

I guess some of them are nailed, possibly each fifth or so. That said, most nails are likely to be rusted through unless they are copper.