The Roof part 3 Now you can see what I have seen

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Here you can see how we have run the ridge of the dorma back to the main gable of the house, (we actually had to cut it into the chimney)
On the far side you can see the chevrons cut down to meet the angle of the main roof. 



Here is some of the detail from the left hand side of the roof of creating the valleys and angle changes needed to make one roof of it all and you can also see the formation of the eyebrows. All of the valleys were covered in zinc to maintain watertight integrity. 











Here the eye brow can been seen. The face of it closest to the camera is level with the last upright of the Shed Room. Then there is one meter from that upright to the stone wall.
This was to give us head room to get up the stairs from down below without crouching. There is to be one on each side because it looks balanced that way.

Here is the right side with in the second photo the chevron coming down from the dorma roof to dictate the “eyebrow” start.and shows the corridor gap between the ShedRoom and the wall. 








Here it is looking up from the front towards the back of the house. 




This is it tidied up and all cut in with all the battens and membrane in place.



 


Now it was time to get some slates on. The roofer gets a long piece of string and it is in a plastic bottle full of red dye. Works out the width of each tile in comparison to the roof and where to start laying so it looks right and therefore where the hooks go. He gets up the top and I was at the bottom, and we move a measure piece of wood across the bottom and he does the top. Then you take the tension on the string at batten level and lift it, under tension, then let it slap onto the battens leaving a neat line of where the hooks need to go on each of the battens. These marks act as a guide to indicate if you are coming off line when you lay out the slates.

This is us from underneath doing the lines and getting ready to lay the relatively easy front slates



Here is a shot of the front with the integral gutters fitted already just waiting for the tiles. The grat thing about these gutters is that you can stand a ladder in them and nip up the roof from there. You can also see the old original, and slightly less ornate, corbles still in place. 



That’s the first half of the front. 



And here is the front nearly finished with just the trimmings and the sealing and splicing of the sides left.



Just a quick word on the hooks used to hold the slates in place. The are stainless steel and hook over the batten (or nail in where the hook position and a chevron coincide) This leaves a slot where the tile sits in. The next set of hooks go in the batten above and that holds the next slate but it also hols the ones below tighter in place then the next row go on and that holds the new slate and also the other two rows in place. Once you have a few rows on it is near impossible to lift the slates without first having to bend over the end of the hook that is showing. 
I think a wind would lift the entire roof off the house as opposed to dislodging a couple of slates. It is a very good way of holding a roof on.
If you are doing it do not be tempted to use the "cheaper" galvanised hooks (unless you are a complete tightwad) as they rot out leading to slates shifting after a few years. 



So now for the back with the dorma first and hopefully you can really see the sweeping curves of how the roof is going to finish. You can also see the scratch coat of lime and mud render on the chimney stack. 





Now sadly it was 11th Sept 2009 and I had to go back to sea and Mrs B had to run a training course back in UK so we had to leave with the roof not finished. 
We had started work on 4th August and it was now 11th September. 
Out of 38 days we had worked 34. 
We were fortunate in that we only had one late afternoon, later in the build when all the membrane was on, when it rained and we couldn’t work. 
We used the time very productively by all going to the local bar and having a pool competition among ourselves all afternoon

With heavy hearts we had to go and leave the roofer to it, but we were both feeling very fit, healthy, tanned and very very satisfied or if you prefer “chuffed as nuts” with the roof progress. 
I received an email 10 days later to say that the roof was complete. 
OH Yes.

Total cost was under half what you would expect to pay however that was because I was the labourer and a fast learning, semi skilled helper, comfortable at height, and, as the client, I was prepared for the job to “take as long as it took”. 

If you have the cash but not the time nor inclination to do it yourself, you are left with no option but to pay, however if you can find the time and a roofer who is willing for you to be a significant part of the team then you can make enormous savings that you can spend elsewhere on the project. The total cost of the roof came in under 12,000 UK pounds and that considering the complexity of it  has got to be a bargain.