Brux lodge ridge tile restoration

Brux Lodge is a beautiful old derelict building located in Aberdeenshire

The building was rumoured to be derelict for approx 25 years and in that time the roof fell into a sorry state of repair along with the rest of the building. The building therefore underwent a large scale restoration project to return it to it's former glory

Alan Grant Grampian the contractor working on brux lodge contacted us to discuss the possibilty of manufactruing some replica crested ridge tiles to replace several cracked and broken ridges on the roof. The contractor submitted an original decorative ridge tile which was broken to see if there was a possibility of producing some replicas and supplying 3 large finials

This was an original broken ridge from Brux Lodge. It is an unusual crested ridge with a 105 degree angle

A ridge tile in this condition would be a challenging and exciting restoration project for us because part of the original piece is intact but there is a missing portion plus a lot of damage, hairline cracks and weather damage to repair to make a good master piece to make a mould from

After seeing what we were up against we set about tackling the restoration in 5 different stages. Stage 1 will be cleaning the fragments of the ridge tile with brushes and anti-fungal wash to remove dirt, moss and algae to clean up the pieces. Stage 2 will be where we re-assemble the available pieces with glue and then sculpture the missing portion of the ridge with clay so that the ridge tile takes on it's original form and shape. Stage 3 and 4 will be where we start doing the inner and outer mould in rubber silicon and stage 5 where we encase the silicon rubber mould in fibreglass to make a strong mould ready for replica ridge tiles to be poured

Stage 2:

The picture shows the ridge tile glued back together and clay has been sculptured so that ridge tile takes on it's original look:

Stage 3 and 4:

The picture shows the inner and outer silicon rubber mould being made

Stage 5:

The silicon rubber mould is encased in fibreglass and when dry the mould will be ready for ridge tiles to be poured

Replica Ridge Tiles:

The replica crested ridge tiles came out looking very nice and decorative and we applied an antique effect to customer's requirements so that they took on a more aged rustic look

Matching Roof Finials:

We also supplied 3 large scroll finials in the same colour to go with the crested ridge tiles. The 3 large finials are for each dormer on the front of the property