Do Dry Verges Rattle in the Wind?

What a dry verge is, in plain terms

The verge is the edge of the roof at a gable end, where the tiles finish over the side wall. Traditionally that edge was sealed with a mortar bed. A dry verge replaces the mortar with a row of plastic or composite cap pieces that are screwed or clipped to the roof, with a fixing strip along the edge of the tiles. Nothing is meant to be loose, so in normal conditions there is nothing to rattle. Our guide to dry verge systems describes the types in more detail.

Where the noise comes from

The common causes are simple. A fixing screw may have been overdriven and stripped the hole, so the cap sits loose under it. A clip may not have been pushed fully home. Plastic caps expand and contract with temperature, and on a hot south-facing gable that movement can loosen a poor fit over time. On some systems the joint between two caps relies on an overlap, and if the overlap is short, wind can lift one edge and tap it against the next piece. A sound cap that has simply lost a screw will vibrate the loudest, because it can flap against the tile below.

Wind speed matters too. Gable ends are the most exposed part of any roof, because air is forced up and over the edge. Houses on open ground near Basingstoke feel that more than those in the shelter of other buildings, so a verge that is marginal in a quiet street can start to buzz at the edge of an estate.

Is it a problem or only a nuisance?

Treat any new noise as a prompt to look, not as something to live with. A rattling cap is moving, and a moving cap is working the fixing loose. Left alone, a screw can back out completely and the cap can lift or fall. Falling plastic from a gable is a hazard to anyone below, and an open verge lets wind-driven rain reach the tile edges and the underlying undercloak (the strip of board or tile that supports the last tiles). Check from the ground with binoculars for a gap, a tilted cap or a missing end piece, and photograph it. Our answer on why dry verge caps fall off covers the worse end of the same fault.

How we cure it

We go up, check every fixing along the verge, and replace any screw that has stripped its hole with a longer or larger one that bites into sound timber. Clips are reseated, warped caps are replaced, and overlaps are corrected so each piece lies flat against the next. If the strip beneath has rotted or been fixed too far from the edge, that is dealt with before the caps go back. The job is usually small and does not need the whole verge redone.

When the noise means a bigger fault

If the whole run is loose, the system may have been fitted without enough fixings for the exposure, or the undercloak behind it may have shifted. In that case, we refit the verge to the manufacturer's fixing pattern rather than patching single pieces. The free survey includes photos of your own gable so you can see what we mean, and the fixed written quote lists what is replaced. Many verge faults are small and a repair is all that is needed. For the other options at a gable, see verge repairs and our main ridge and verge page.

Other noises that are not the verge

Before blaming the verge, rule out the neighbours. A loose television aerial bracket, a flapping bargeboard or fascia cover, a slipped ridge end cap, a loose gutter bracket or a flashing lifting at a chimney can all sound like a verge in the dark. Wind through a small gap under a tile can whistle rather than rattle. Listening from the loft helps: a sound that comes from directly above the gable wall points to the verge, while one from the middle of the roof points elsewhere. If you are not sure, tell us what you hear and when it happens, and we check every likely source in one visit.

Stopping it coming back

Ask whoever fits or repairs the verge to use stainless or coated screws of the right length, to space the fixings as the maker specifies, and to leave a short gap rather than crush the caps against the tile edge. A fixing that is snug but not overtightened holds for longer than one driven hard into soft timber.