How to Install Hip and Ridge Tiles for a Flat Tile Roof

Hip Tile Installation Techniques

In this video, I’m gonna show you how to install hip and ridge tile for your flat tile roof. Now, there are few different ways to install tiles on your hip, and everyone has a little bit different techniques. A lot of it has to do with aesthetics and the appearance that you wanna achieve on your roof. One detail that I like out of a few different ones is, to install a starter tile on your hip. What you wanna do is take your regular hip tile. I like to usually cut it down between 4 to 6 inches. Just wanna cut down to 6 inches, and also narrowing it down an inch on each side. So you can see here where I took this tile right here, cut it at 6 inches, then trimmed off an inch on each side, and I like to install this first to achieve this look right here. So at the end of it, this is what it’s gonna look like and it’ll cover this up. If we don’t install the starter… This tile right here is at an incorrect angle as opposed to having it a little higher up. So I’m gonna install the starter and again, remember, there are multiple different ways of doing this and most of them just have different appearances. As far as waterproofing, they’re all pretty much the same. You wanna use the same nails that you’re using for your tiles.

Now, one thing I wanna point out is, we’ve got a 2X4 installed here. Depending on your tile profile, you’re gonna have different lumber. Sometimes you’re gonna have to install a 2X6 if you’re using S tile, maybe a 2X8 if you’re using a two piece tile. Regardless of what it is, you want it approximately half inch to a quarter inch above the highest point of your tile installation. So once you’ve got that installed as you can see here, you want your 2X4 to be slightly higher. So the height of this can vary depending on the type of tile that you’re using.

Overlapping Hip Tiles

Now, the overlap we wanna have on these is pretty much the same as our tile. Usually we go 3 inches past and then we can just mark it very quickly here. (Watch the above video at 2:13 to see the hip tiles being installed.)

Ridge Tile Installation

Now, I wanna start installing the ridge off right here at the rake. There’s a few different ways, similar to all tile installations, there’s multiple different ways of doing it. Usually primarily tied to aesthetics. One way is to butt up this ridge tile up against the rake and just mortar this top. That’s one way of doing it.

The other way is bringing it on top and filling this gap right here with mortar. Both ways work fine.

And the third option is to bring it on top of the rake and stack up a few smaller tiles here to fill up this gap.

For this demonstration here, I’m gonna be filling up mortar here and flushing out the side. Set it back about an inch from the rake, which will give me some room to fill up the mortar and play with it. We’re gonna be using Spec Mix, and I’ve got this premixed already. What I like to do is just pile up some mortar here before we set the tile and I can set the tile here and get an idea. I still need some more here. This mortar serves two purposes. The first one is, it helps secure that top tile, the first ridge tile. The second is, it keeps birds from nesting up in open spaces of your roof.

We’ve already got the mortar in place. Now I haven’t done the prettiest job, some people have a better hand at doing this. Now, you can also color your mortar to have it match closer to your tile. But the concept is, essentially just to fill up this large hole here and now we’re ready to start installing the rest of the ridge. So we’re just gonna be installing one nail at the back. One thing we like to do especially at our ridges, is apply some mastic right here that helps that second tile not to lift up. So just a little bit of mastic there. You can see that it helps these two tiles adhere together and it will just keep it more secure and help it not shift during any strong winds you may have.

There you have it. You can see that the hip and ridge get installed quite similarly. There’s a few differences when starting off at the rake point, but the concept remains the same, it’s pretty simple, put one on top of the other, nail it, you can use mastic for adhesion, then you can mortar any ends that are open or install tiles similar to what we did in the hip.