Ridge tile - Old mortar won't budge

Hi guys,

Ridge tile got blown off by one of our many winter storms. Mortar below is very solid and I'm unable to remove it even after a fair bit of persuasion with hammer and chisel. I think if I apply more force I'll end up breaking the first row of roof tiles and I'll be up sh*t creek even further.

Any tips? Can I score, re-bed with sand+cement and SBR mixed in for better bond? There's about 10cm in the middle that is deep enough for new mortar bedding but the ends are very solid.

Use a grinder

So it definitely all needs to come off?

Single ridge tile ? Just squirt in some resin for a quick fix .

NWheels said:

Hi guys,

Ridge tile got blown off by one of our many winter storms. Mortar below is very solid and I'm unable to remove it even after a fair bit of persuasion with hammer and chisel. I think if I apply more force I'll end up breaking the first row of roof tiles and I'll be up sh*t creek even further.

Any tips? Can I score, re-bed with sand+cement and SBR mixed in for better bond? There's about 10cm in the middle that is deep enough for new mortar bedding but the ends are very solid.

Click to expand...

Bin the tiles and put new ones on.

All things considered replacing the first course of tiles seems the easiest solution. Need to go get actually get some first. Thanks all!

Genuinely, a grinder with one of these fitted:




will make mincemeat of stuck on mortar lumps in seconds. Also a diamond cutting wheel will quickly clean up the ridge tile without risking breaking it. Dont use a hammer for any of this cleanup


On the grinder note, buy a battery one; all round better than a 240v one for most jobs (less aggressive), and will possibly end up being one of your most useful purchases. If you already have a cordless drill (if not why not) buying a body from the same brand so you can use your existing battery is usually incredibly cheap.

If you have a cordless drill and don't wish to lay out on a grinder, for this task you could consider an adapter boss that will allow you fit a grinding wheel to the drill(like eBay item number 317562734958) but take care to use a low speed, both hands and only grind such that it's trying to pull away from you if it suddenly grabs and jumps.

Specialist drill bits also exist, such as:



But for the cost of them you can nearly buy an angle grinder body, and I personally feel that for this job a grinder would be safest all round

New row of tiles is going to look very odd for years til it weathers in, go with what you have

robinbanks said:

Genuinely, a grinder with one of these fitted:


View attachment 409065

will make mincemeat of stuck on mortar lumps in seconds. Also a diamond cutting wheel will quickly clean up the ridge tile without risking breaking it. Dont use a hammer for any of this cleanup


On the grinder note, buy a battery one; all round better than a 240v one for most jobs (less aggressive), and will possibly end up being one of your most useful purchases. If you already have a cordless drill (if not why not) buying a body from the same brand so you can use your existing battery is usually incredibly cheap.

If you have a cordless drill and don't wish to lay out on a grinder, for this task you could consider an adapter boss that will allow you fit a grinding wheel to the drill(like eBay item number 317562734958) but take care to use a low speed, both hands and only grind such that it's trying to pull away from you if it suddenly grabs and jumps.

Specialist drill bits also exist, such as:

View attachment 409066

But for the cost of them you can nearly buy an angle grinder body, and I personally feel that for this job a grinder would be safest all round

New row of tiles is going to look very odd for years til it weathers in, go with what you have

Click to expand...

All that whilst balancing on a ridge. Joy.

Ha I'd have loved an excuse to get more tools and would have if it was a few lumps but it's the bed along pretty much the entire length of the two ridge tiles that's not budging.

I've located some reclaimed tiles of the same type online, so will take the top tiles and bed off and replace, re-bed on identical tiles.

Anything to be aware of going down that route?