mortaring ridge and hip tiles in the cold. can it be done???

[danielroofer]

I don't normally do any cement work if the temp is going to dip below 5degrees in the next 3 days. If I really must then Ill add some frostproofer and use a hessian sheet, but I still wouldn't do the work if the temp was likely to fall below 0degrees. The British winter is usually wet and windy rather than cold and icy, so it's unlikely that any freezing weather will last for long, hence why I put off cement work for a few days or a week until conditions improve.

That's just how I do things, based on my experience. I have had to redo a verge after the water in the cement froze and caused it to crumble, so a lesson learned for me.

 

[tony1851]

How can you cover the ridge and hips with hessian?

 

[noseall]

How can you cover the ridge and hips with hessian?

It's a pain.

A few Winters ago we needed to get a hip roof ridged-in during cold weather.

We set up a brazier and lit it then stacked all the ridge tiles around the brazier. We had already bagged up some sand and had that nicely thawed out in the garage.

We set up a pale of water over the brazier and heated it (two metal trestles and a fencing spike).

I hired a roofers torch and thawed and heated the tiles on the roof.

We used the heated water to mix the muck having warmed the mixer drum using the roofers torch.

We then set about laying the warmed ridge tiles onto the warmed roof tiles.

Once a stretch was pointed we then used bricks and dust sheets to 'tent' over the ridge tiles. We laid insulation batts on top of our tent. We then laid hessian over the insulation and then another layer of bricks to trap the hessian.

This roof was shallow enough pitch to be able to use bricks as weights and be able to cover. You have got little or no chance with a plain tile roof, i.e. those above 35 degrees.

People who work in offices have no idea......