Opinion needed from the experts (hip to ridge joint)

[javier1891]

Hi everyone!!

I just had all the ridges and hips in my house replaced by a dry system.
The roofer just finished yesterday and told us to have a look around to see if we were happy.

Everything looked ok apart from the joint between the ridge and the hip tiles. My ridge was totally straight before but now it's not. The roofer has had to lift last ridge tiles significantly to meet the hip tiles. Below you can see the before and the after. To me it doesn't look right and we told him that we are not happy but he is telling us excuses.

I just want your honest opinion. Can anything be done to rectify the issue and have a straight ridge? Are we being unreasonable?

Thanks in advance.

Untitled

• javier1891
• 12 Mar 2014
• 1

Untitled

• javier1891
• 12 Mar 2014
• 1

 

[tony1851]

He may well be making excuses, but as long as the joint is weathertight, there's no problem.

In fact, from a purely visual point of view, a very slight upward inflection of a ridge at the end always looks better than a dead - level one.

This applies equally whether the ridge meets a gable wall, or a hip.

Have a look at some older traditional tile roofs and you will often see this subtle upturn at the end.

 

[foxhole]

Not seen a straight ridge, all I have seen have slight tilt as Tony describes, though yours does look a bit untidy.

 

[javier1891]

He may well be making excuses, but as long as the joint is weathertight, there's no problem.

In fact, from a purely visual point of view, a very slight upward inflection of a ridge at the end always looks better than a dead - level one.

This applies equally whether the ridge meets a gable wall, or a hip.

Have a look at some older traditional tile roofs and you will often see this subtle upturn at the end.

Thanks for your reply. I truly appreciate it.

I respect what you say about a slight slope being more pleasant to the view. But I personally prefer a straight ridge. In this case I do not consider the slope to be slight and as a consequence it's leaving a massive gap to the second ridge tile (try to zoom in the second photo) which probably is not a good think in terms of achieving watertightness.

I just need to know if it's possible to get a straight ridge by reworking the existing joint between the hip and the ridge.

Thanks.

 

[colind86]

The only way to get the mitre section level is to change the ridge on the hips to 3rd round hip tiles. Which isnt really waranted due to it being water tight plus will cost a great deal more money. Only other possibility is take the dry system off the ridge line and bed with cement to make the sweep a little less sharp. As tony says the sweeps alot more aesthetically pleasing.

 

[javier1891]

The only way to get the mitre section level is to change the ridge on the hips to 3rd round hip tiles. Which isnt really waranted due to it being water tight plus will cost a great deal more money. Only other possibility is take the dry system off the ridge line and bed with cement to make the sweep a little less sharp. As tony says the sweeps alot more aesthetically pleasing.

Hi Colin,

Thanks for your replay.

One question: would cutting a bit of the hip tiles (ie. 5mm) allow the ridge tiles to drop a little bit lower? I'm not looking for drastic measures like buying all new hip tiles but a little adjustment in the joint so it looks a bit straighter without leaving big gaps to the second ridge tile.

 

[colind86]

No. Id think theres a 3/4 inch cement joint at the mitres. So the ridge arent sitting on the hip tiles. Thats not why the kicks there. If its the gap between first and second ridge thats concerning you, get the roofer to angle the first ridge at the joint to square it up. I can assure you though it will be water tight.

 

[javier1891]

No. Id think theres a 3/4 inch cement joint at the mitres. So the ridge arent sitting on the hip tiles. Thats not why the kicks there. If its the gap between first and second ridge thats concerning you, get the roofer to angle the first ridge at the joint to square it up. I can assure you though it will be water tight.

Thanks Colin. What caught my eye was the big gap to the second ridge tile as you say. Also, my original wet ridge was fairly straight as shown on the picture above so I thought it wouldn't be that difficult to achieve a similar result with the dry system. I guess I was wrong.

 

[colind86]

You get a little bit more play when bedded in cement. Or maybe it was 1/3rd round to hald round on the original. The picture qualities not great on a phone of your first picture. The original hip and ridge didnt look in bad condition. Why the change?

 

[colind86]

You get a little bit more play when bedded in cement. Or maybe it was 1/3rd round to hald round on the original. The picture qualities not great on a phone of your first picture. The original hip and ridge didnt look in bad condition. Why the change?

 

[javier1891]

Basically we had a few hip tiles come off during the high winds a few weeks ago and the insurance agreed to pay for new hips and ridges. We thought that a dry ridge was probably the best option.

 

[javier1891]

The tiles are exactly the same. We've only got 5 new hip tiles.

 

[colind86]

Ahh I see. Thats a token from the insurance company! Like I said though you have more play with the bedded system. Hopefully the dry system gives yous many years maintenance free .

 

[javier1891]

Yes, I can't complain. Hopefully it will last a long long time. Thanks for everything Colin.

 

[cannonfoder]

All this new age roofing looks good on a new age roof system but when you try to add it to a older roof them sometimes it just look right
not saying your roof looks crap i quite like it but every one want the new new gear out there I still like my hips ridges and verges puged in and pointed nice