Roof maintenances and repairs can be daunting enough along with understanding various roofing terms and their meaning. With the storm season approaching, many households are starting to conduct annual roof maintenance checks. One of the usual maintenance points on tiled roofs is doing re-pointing. In this context, you will learn about what re-pointing actually means and if your roof really needs it. Read on to discover.
What is re-pointing?
Re-pointing is a term used for the process of covering up the joints between the roof tiles ridges. In the process, a material is used for the completion of the spaces between joints.
Does your roof needs re-pointing?
Over the years, your roofs will develop cracks along the joints. This may happen due to harsh weather conditions or prolonged damaged due to branches falling from trees, or the roofing material may start degrading with the passage of time. These cracks develop between the pointing along your roof’s ridge capping. If you notice similar cracks, it is a clear indication that it’s time for your roof to undergo re-pointing. To understand if your roof requires pointing, you need to carry out a thorough visual inspection in order to get an idea of what condition your roof pointing is in.
Process involved in re-pointing
A flexible pointing is carefully applied along on various sides of the ridges. The flexible pointing is applied at a thickness of three to five millimeter. The re-pointing material is also applied along the collars where the ridges overlap with one another. After the re-pointing is done, your roof ridges are fully secured from water or wind uplift. The flexi-point also flexes smoothly with normal or harsh roof movement which prevents the roof from developing cracks in future of the ridge capping.
Sometimes re-bedding is done if your roof bedding is under threat, in this case you need to get in touch with a qualified roofer who can prepare a superior-quality bedding composition to be applied on the roof. Bedding is a composition of cement or mortar and sand that efficiently fixes the ridge capping on the ridges. However, re-bedding will require you to remove the existing pointing and bedding material. After you remove the bedding, the roofer will mix the bedding mortar thoroughly and mix them properly. The bedding mortar is blended which is made up of 3-parts roofers’ loam to 1-part cement. The roofer will them apply the bedding mix thoroughly with the help of a trowel to the roof tiles and cover up the roof by the ridge capping. A ridge rack is then used to keep the ridges straight and in a line and the bedding applied in the right spot for the ridge caps to sit on. The bedding is then trowelled up to a neat up & down finish slightly inwards from the ridge. This provides a good solid surface for the flexible pointing to adhere to.
Now you know if your roof requires pointing and bedding. If you think it is the time to get your roof bedded and pointed, get in touch with a professional roofer.
