Re-roof. Dry ridge or not?

[bricky48not]

Hi There,
I am having to replace my Garage/Extension Roof which presently is made up of Concrete double roman roof tiles and about 50 Half Round concrete Ridge tiles. The roof is about 35 years old and the Sarking felt is rotting around the edges (fragments of which I have found lying in the gutters when I clean them).
The old felt looks ok underneath inside the loft space but I know there are a few holes in the old Sarking felt that were noticed when I merged the Garage roof with a new Extension roof. The new Extension roof tiling isn’t great so I am replacing that too.
Recently, Storm Euwen damaged my roof lifting up 6 or so of the old Ridge tiles in a line which is another indication of a re-roof requirement.
My roof is a fair size with two hips and a valley comprising of approximately 850 tiles and 50 half round Ridge tiles.
The pitch is 25 degrees and it sits on a designed timber spec.
The present Ridge tiles are all cemented on top of the tiles but looking into re-roofing it, I notice most of the modern way seems to be utilising a ‘Dry Ridge’ technique which sometimes uses nails or screws in the plastic inserts between the Ridge tiles.
The concern with me is that I think perhaps there is a chance the screws /nails and plastic inserts are another reason for the roof to fail with wear in the future.
Indeed, after the recent gale, I found one of these plastic inserts (Ridge seal) near my house not realising what it was at first until looking around I noticed a nearby property where their recent extension was missing a seal between two of the Ridge tiles. There were however no screws on either side of the Ridge tiles or no apparent restriction to keep the seal in securely on that particulars neighbours extension.
Please Can you give me some advice on my Best way forward for a re-roof for the dry ridge option and what the general consensus is for this.
Or indeed, perhaps I should revert back to the ‘cemented on Ridge’ tile method which might mean a longer life for the roof.
Thanking you in anticipation for your comments.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

For our hipped bungalow I decided upon a dry ridge for the ridge, which provides ventilation. But I had the hips bedded on mortar, black dyed so it looked similar to the dry ridge at the top.

Personally I like the fact that a dry ridge system gives ventilation. It looks OK when it's far enough away. But for a bungalow the hips get quite close to you on the ground so the dry ridge looks unfinished and messy.

So... my answer would be to use both, so you get it neat and tidy at the lower levels but with the ventilation at the top provided by a dry ridge.

 

[stevie888]

Call me old fashioned but a nicely mucked roof looks infinitely superior to any dry system I've ever seen

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

It has advantages. Ventilation being the main one. Better for weatherproofing, as water going off the edges of the tiles still gets picked up. Arguably they're held on better too, although time will tell.

But, for hips down to just above head height, I decided it was just a bit too unfinished looking. Fine on a house though.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

I think they may be mandatory for newbuild now, so someone thinks they're OK.

 

[aveatry]

I think they may be mandatory for newbuild now, so someone thinks they're OK.

But do they look the same on a new build as they do when retro fitted. I looked into them but decided that they look fat and ugly and "stuck on" so re did the mortar instead.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

You'd normally fit them as part of a re-roof.

I doubt they could be retro-fitted, at least not without taking a load of tiles off and putting them back again.

 

[noseall]

Call me old fashioned but a nicely mucked roof looks infinitely superior to any dry system I've ever seen

They can appear clunky and inelegant, yes. However, the advantage to having mechanically fixed ridge etc, appeals to folk. Especially when you throw in the low maintenance bonus too. Plus you can fit through poor weather.

 

[bricky48not]

Thank you for all your replies. I do appreciate it.
It does worry me still that there are a lot of units in the Dry Ridge kits that may go wrong or move in time and indeed the plastic inserts don't fill me with confidence. Draughty and water ingress also is something to think about.
If I do manage to get a roofer to discuss and quote for the new roof, it will be interesting to see what stance he would take and what his guidance will be. I can quite understand that he would probably try and persuade me to opt for the Dry Ridge because it's probably easier and faster to carry out.
Best Wishes and Thanks again.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Draughty is a good thing. It will let air gently circulate reducing the chances of condensation within the loft.

Also in summer that unbearably hot air trapped in the loft will naturally rise and exit, drawing in cooler air from lower down.

Water ingress is not an issue, I guess you're looking at them and think they're stupid as there are big holes all over the place. Obviously someone has already thought about it, they're not designed by an idiot! In reality the tiles are largely just decorative, there's a contiguous plastic liner beneath them. This is superior to mortar.

 

[noseall]

Draughty and water ingress also is something to think about.

Draughty is good - it's why you fit them.

Rain ingress - no.

Mechanically fixed with stainless screws - good.

 

[bricky48not]

Feeling a bit better now! Thank you all very much.
Now to find a good Roofer