Why ridge caps work loose in Brisbane
Gusts past 130 km/h
On 16 November 2008, winds hit 130 km/h in Brisbane's outer suburbs, with The Gap, Kenmore, Arana Hills and Albany Creek among the worst affected, and some houses lost their roofs. Six years later, the November 2014 supercell gusted to 144 km/h. Ridge caps sitting on cracked bedding are easy targets in wind like that.
Old mortar cracks
Monier lists cracked or broken cement bedding on ridges and hips as a common cause of leaks, and says pointing can crack or loosen with weather. It recommends modern flexible compounds for repairs, which move with the roof instead of cracking.
Fixing is set by the wind
Under the NCC, ridge, hip and capping tiles must be fixed with clips, screws, nails or flexible pointing that meets AS 2050, and how often they're fixed depends on the site's wind classification. Monier says flexible pointing on ridge capping is part of how tiled roofs handle high winds, so a Brisbane ridge job is as much about holding on in a storm as about looks.
What the job involves
A roofer lifts the loose ridge caps, clears out the old bedding, lays fresh mortar and resets the caps, then runs flexible pointing over the top. Some roofs only need repointing over bedding that's still sound, while others need the full rebed.
Ask for photos of the bedding before work starts, so you can see why they've recommended one over the other. In Queensland, bedding and pointing come under the QBCC roof tiling licence, which also covers fixing tiles, battens, flashing and sarking.
What you can check, and what to leave
You can
- Look along the ridges and hips from the street or yard, with binoculars if you have them, for caps out of line or gaps underneath
- Check gutters at ground level for chunks of mortar after a storm
- Note any new ceiling stains near the top of rooms after heavy rain
Leave to a roofer
- Anything that means getting onto the roof
- Lifting, rebedding or repointing caps
- Replacing cracked ridge caps or tiles
Questions for a Brisbane roofer about your ridges
- Does my roof need a full rebed, or only repointing over sound bedding?
- Which pointing compound will you use, and is it flexible?
- Will the caps be mechanically fixed too, to suit my site's wind classification?
- Can I see your QBCC roof tiling licence?
- Will you replace cracked ridge caps, or reuse them all?
Where we'd put the money
If the bedding is cracked along most of the ridges, we'd rebed the lot rather than patch it, and get it done before November. If only the pointing is crazed and the caps sit firm, repointing is enough. Our national rebedding and repointing page explains both, and the Brisbane hub covers the wider local picture.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.