How we fix it
About this service in Brisbane
Stand across the street from almost any 1960s-80s brick-and-tile home in Brisbane — Sunnybank, Bracken Ridge, Tingalpa, take your pick — and look at the ridge line. If the mortar under the caps looks cracked, patchy or crumbling, that roof is running on borrowed time. Repointing isn’t a cosmetic touch-up; it’s the difference between a roof that shrugs off a summer storm cell and one that loses caps to it.
This page explains what bedding and pointing actually do, why virtually every concrete tile roof of that era needs this work eventually, what it costs in 2026, and how the job is done properly.
Bedding and pointing: the two layers that hold your ridge together
Every ridge cap, hip cap and gable end on a tile roof is held on by two layers:
Bedding is the sand-cement mortar course the cap physically sits on. It sets the cap’s height and line and carries its weight.
Pointing is the finishing layer applied over the bedding at the edge of the cap. It seals the joint against water and locks the cap down against wind.
When roofers talk about repointing, they mean stripping the failed outer layer and applying a modern flexible pointing compound. Rebedding means the caps are lifted entirely, the crumbled mortar bed underneath is removed, and the caps are re-laid on fresh bedding — then repointed over the top. Which one your roof needs depends entirely on the state of the bedding, and that’s a tap-test on the roof, not a guess from the driveway.
Why every 60s-80s concrete tile roof gets here eventually
Brisbane’s post-war building boom put concrete tile roofs on tens of thousands of homes, and nearly all of them used the same detail: caps bedded and pointed in rigid sand-cement mortar. The tiles themselves are good for half a century or more. The mortar isn’t — by design of its chemistry, not by anyone’s mistake.
A Brisbane roof surface can swing through enormous temperature ranges in a single day: cool overnight, brutally hot under summer sun, then suddenly quenched by an afternoon storm. Tiles, caps and mortar all expand and contract at different rates, and rigid mortar has zero capacity to absorb that movement. Hairline cracks open, subtropical rain gets in, UV and moisture cycles do the rest. After 30-50 years the mortar frets — crumbles to powder — which is exactly why you find grey crumbs in the gutters of a 1975 home in Ashgrove. If your roof is from that era and has never been rebedded and repointed, the question isn’t whether it needs doing. It’s whether you do it on your schedule or storm season’s.
Loose caps and storm season: the expensive way to find out
From November to March, Brisbane’s storm cells arrive with wind gusts that test every fixing on a roof. A ridge cap on sound bedding and flexible pointing barely notices. A cap sitting on fretted mortar is effectively loose — held by weight and habit — and a strong gust can lift it off entirely.
What follows is the worst-value sequence in roofing: an emergency call-out in the middle of a storm surge of demand, a tarp over the open ridge, rain damage to insulation and ceilings, and an insurance conversation about whether the roof was maintained. We handle plenty of storm damage roof repairs every season that trace back to ridge lines that had been visibly failing for years. Our storm season roof checklist exists for exactly this reason: the cheap time to fix a ridge is September, not January.
How we do the job
Inspection first. We walk every ridge, hip and gable line, tap-test caps for drummy bedding, and photograph what we find. You get a straight answer: spot repair, full repoint, or rebed and repoint — with a fixed price for the actual scope, not a worst-case padding.
Strip, don’t smear. Failed pointing and fretted bedding come off. Flexible pointing applied over crumbling mortar is the classic cut-price shortcut, and it fails in a year or two because the substrate underneath keeps disintegrating. If a quote seems too cheap, this step is usually what’s missing.
Rebed where the bedding has failed. Loose caps are lifted and re-laid on fresh, correctly gauged sand-cement bedding, straight along the line. Cracked caps are replaced with matching profiles — and if your cap profile is discontinued, we source seconds or salvage rather than leaving a mismatched lid on the roof.
Flexible pointing throughout. Every joint is finished in flexible acrylic pointing, colour-matched to the roof. Modern compounds bond to both cap and tile and flex with thermal movement instead of cracking — which is why they’re generally expected to last 15-25 years where rigid mortar managed far less in Queensland conditions.
While we’re up there, we check the rest of the roof — cracked tiles, valley condition, flashings. Ridge work often reveals the beginnings of other issues, and it’s cheaper to fix a cracked tile during the same visit than to mobilise again in six months.
What it costs in 2026
Typical Brisbane pricing: $1,500-$2,500 for full repointing where bedding is sound, $2,500-$3,500 for rebedding and repointing an average single-storey home, and $3,500-$5,500 where the roof is large, steep, two-storey, or needs a run of caps replaced. Spot repairs on a single ridge line start around $600. The honest variable is how much rebedding is needed — which is why anyone quoting a firm price without getting on the roof is guessing with your money. Our repointing and rebedding cost guide breaks down every line item.
Repointing is also the moment to think about sequencing: if the roof will want painting or a full restoration within a few years, doing the ridge work first (or as part of the package) avoids paying for access twice.
Book a free ridge inspection
If your roof is from the 60s, 70s or 80s and the ridge line has never been touched — or you’ve spotted mortar in the gutters — get it looked at before storm season does the looking for you. Get a quote online or book a free inspection. You’ll get photos of your actual bedding and pointing condition and a fixed written price, northside or southside.