Tile Battens Cut Too Short

[Sonic70]

On my brothers roof the end column of tiles at the verge have all slipped down, so the tiles, tile and half, cement verge and undercloak have all slipped down and away from the next tiles. So looks like last time the roof was done the roofer has cut the battens too short and so there is nothing holding up these end tiles. Whats the best way of resolving this. I think battens are probably about 1 to 2 inches too short so I was just thinking of screwing some short lengths of batten through the ends into the existing battens. Does anyone have any thoughts on this.

Victor

 

[accelerator]

A pic would be good.

Extending the battens might work as long as you can make them strong enough. You might need to use some metal bracing or similar.

 

[matlob]

You can buy batten joiners in plastic which may work.

 

[Sonic70]

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You need to lift a few tiles and see what's really going on .....

 

[Sonic70]

I'm sure the battens have been cut short because the same thing happened on the other side and when that was repaired by someone else my brother confirmed my suspicions of what had been done wrong that side.

 

[noseall]

View attachment 400789

The pattern staining on those tiles indicates that they have always been in that position, i.e. the verge courses look like they are a (different) longer tile. You have a classic ex/con thing going on there because the lazy roofers didn't fix the verge tiles.

The verge needs re-bedding/fixing by a competent roofer.

 

[Sonic70]

My brother tells me that they fell down like this about 4 years ago but they were pushed back up last time and fixed somehow with no nails which has now failed.

 

[mrrusty]

I'm no roofer, although I've done a bit of slating. It's very obvious that the verge has been bodged from whenever it was first repaired. The new tiles are both longer and thicker, so have been bodged on to the existing batten spacing. Nothing short of sourcing some original matching tiles and rebuilding the verges is going to work reliably.

I don't recognise the original tiles, although I expect someone here will. I suspect they may be nearing end of life. Depending on what is underneath and why the verges failed originally, it might be time to start saving up for a re-roof.

 

[Notch7]

I think you need the correct tiles as a starting point

 

[Sonic70]

Great spot, I hadn't realised that, but from that picture I have to agree. I have no idea what tile it is so if anyone else knows please let me know.

 

[ree]

OP,
Except for the ( concrete?) verge tiles, & a few chipped field tiles the roof plain tiles look to be in good order - plain tiles can last for up to a 80 - 100yrs.
You need to strip away all the verge tiles and then post pics of what you expose.
Perimeter /verge tiles need two nailed fixings per tile.
Off-cut lengths of replacement battens need to be fixed to a min of three rafters, dont use short off-cuts.
The backs of the plain tiles will have some form of ID for getting correct replacements.

 

[Sonic70]

Thanks Ree. I agree but it's not my roof and my brother doesn't want to strip back to 3 rafters after I suggested the same to him.

 

[Koolpc]

He needs to do it right now, not bodge...

 

[Sonic70]

I know.