Can weep holes be DRILLED out at the ridge capping to repair a slow leak?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Weep holes are essential on tile roof ridge capping. But it is often left out, pointed over, or blocked with paint. Under perfect conditions, weep holes are not required. That is why brand new roofs do not get leaks at the ridges. The fresh pointing is working perfectly to stop all water ingress into the bedding.
Once the roof starts to age and movement (thermal plus structural) places stress at the ridge capping, cracks begin to form. Then water starts to get into the cracks and pond behind the bedding. And if the rain continues for a longer while, the pond gets bigger and overflows into the ceiling cavity.
Therefore weep holes are needed for the long term performance of tile roofs.
They are usually installed when the tile roof is first laid. But they can also be left out because roofers take short cuts.
So, what do you do if your roof lacks functioning weep holes - way pass the builder's warranty period?
The usual method of providing weep holes on existing roofs involves the expensive exercise of removing the old bedding and re-installing the ridge capping of fresh bedding with weep holes.
But we often get asked if there is a quicker and cheaper method.
Can weep holes be drilled out?
In this video, we will have a go at drilling out weep holes....
Forgive me for my dumb question. Are you supposed to drill weep holes on both sides of the ridge?
The answer is YES.
There is a different roof tile on each side of the ridge capping and they both need to be drained.
G'day G'day, my names daneil and i just moved into a new house, well new to us as it was built in the 6ps or 70s and within a month of moving in we started to get water stains on our ceiling so i went up and had a look see and there was the 3 or 4 minor cracks in the bottom of severl tiles which was mentioned in the inspection report but what was mentioned was in the report was that all of the ridge lines both horizontal and diagonally were either crack or chipped and in multiple places missing and being on the pension and having spent our last cent on buying it i had to redon all of the ridge line cementing myself reoving ot all cleaning and then cementing it back in and am quater way thru flexible pointing so i can guarantee for certain that there are no weep tiles at all as none of the roofing videos mentioned them and i only watched the ones made by professional roofers showing how to do it. All water leaks have stopped and as soon as i get the money together I'll be buying more flexible pointing stuff to finish it off so my question is should i drill the weeps now or wait until i finish repointing then drill the weel holes and what size drill bit should i use, 4mm 5mm 8mm?
Hi Daniel,
We used a 6.5mm masonry drill bit on the video. You should upsize to 8mm if you can.
We recommend drill the weep holes before you do the flexible pointing.
Then, after the flexible pointing has been done, clear out the weep holes just by poking through the 8mm weep holes with a 6.5mm rod/drill bit.
Hi Jack, at 2:40 the tiles have a small crown in the middle of the valleys: I guees that's why the weep hole goes to one side. But with the tiles you are drilling at 2:55 it lookes like the tile valleys (is that the right term) are flat. Does that mean the weepholes can go in the centre of the depression instead of off to one side? I hope so cause that's what I've done! Any advice gladly received thanks Tim
Hi Tim,
Weep holes should be installed at the lowest point of the roof tile - so that it can effectively drain out the trapped water. Therefore it will be somewhere at the 'valley' section (even though the valley can be a flat section).
When roof tilers install ridge capping, it is firstly bedded on mortar and this is when the weep holes are created. Then when they come back to point over the bedding, the weep holes are covered and become hidden.
So, how do the roof tiler find the weep holes again to re-instate them through the pointing?
It is quite simple.
They go either left or right. Middle is a bad option because it is difficult to locate.
So, it will be on either side, as the flat valley transitions to a rise to the crest.
So, when we have to drill through the hidden/blocked weep holes, it is easier to just find where the original weep holes are and drill through these. Left or right - never middle.
If there are no original weep holes to drill through, we find that it is still easier to go left or right - rather than the middle.
Hope this makes sense.
Thanks,
Jack
Do you need weep holes in the hips? The ridge caps that run down the roof?
Weep holes are not usually needed along the hips - because the watercourses act as weep holes.
I've never hear of "weep holes" in the ridge caps.
Is this a comon design, globally?
P.S. I'm a homeowner in S. Africa, and have been experiencing weeping during heavy rain.
I've lived in the house since 1976, the roof has been professionally painted every +- 10 years and thought that this fairly recent issue was due to high winds pushing the rain up,under the concrete tiles.
Weep holes are one way to release trapped water. Since trapped water is universal, then weep holes should also be universal.