This is where the roofers skill and knowledge comes into play as you don’t just start hammering them on (as I thought) hoping that the tiles will fit when they get to the top.
I have to say it was a joy to watch a skilled professional measure, check, test, then re-adjust and finally go "Yep were ready to roll".
I love learning how much I "don't" know and then adding new skills to the knowledge base that I do have.
It makes me feel "wonderful"
You have to take accurate measurements from top to bottom of the run, so in effect from end of the base plate to the ridge. This enables you to work out any anomalies because with these old houses straight lines are difficult to come by.
You then need to work out what slate overlap you have, our overlap is about 70% so if a slate is 30 cms long you only see about 10cms of it.
Once you know it is going to hit the ridge square (this is important if you want the roof to look right,) any adjustments need to be done at the bottom.
To be honest I cant quite remember how it was done and how the overl;ap was worked out (I am a seaman, not a roofer) but it is dependent on the sort of guttering you chose (see photo for mine) and then you can adjust at the bottom to get the line right at the top.
I know that every 10 battens or so we would measure from the bottom one to where we were, to ensure we were staying straight. If there is a difference something is wrong and needs to be sorted before you go to far.
This is one of those classic cases of measure once measure twice three times and then make your move.
Then having the first batten in place you use a cut piece of wood as a guide (two if there is two of you on the roof) and then up you go up nailing them in (using a nail gun with 30 to 35 mm nails to speed the job up) making sure the battens are exactly the same distance apart all the way up.
This is ankle wrenching, back bending, finger nipping, toe curling, hanging on with one hand and one knee, buttock clenching, work, but, none the less, very satisfying.
Once the battens are on and you are feeling a bit more confident you can just simply walk up them (where they cross a chevron) like little steps.
You lay the membrane over the chevrons and then batten over the top until you reach the bit where you have to overlap the membrane (10 to 15 cms) so any ingress of water runs down to the eaves and just keep going until you reach the top.
You should have a neat straight line when you reach the ridge. The ends of the tiles will be hidden under the ridge tiles anyway to hide the odd few mm difference.
Very difficult to articulate and explain, and no doubt to visualise, but I hope you get the gist of it and if you have a good roofer he will walk you though it anyway.
Cheers
Bentley
Next I will answer the question that maybe poised on some of your lips "what has Mrs Bentley been doing during the roof build as she hasn't been mentioned for a while.
Well she has been busy as the next installment will show.
You then need to work out what slate overlap you have, our overlap is about 70% so if a slate is 30 cms long you only see about 10cms of it.
Once you know it is going to hit the ridge square (this is important if you want the roof to look right,) any adjustments need to be done at the bottom.
To be honest I cant quite remember how it was done and how the overl;ap was worked out (I am a seaman, not a roofer) but it is dependent on the sort of guttering you chose (see photo for mine) and then you can adjust at the bottom to get the line right at the top.
I know that every 10 battens or so we would measure from the bottom one to where we were, to ensure we were staying straight. If there is a difference something is wrong and needs to be sorted before you go to far.
This is one of those classic cases of measure once measure twice three times and then make your move.
Then having the first batten in place you use a cut piece of wood as a guide (two if there is two of you on the roof) and then up you go up nailing them in (using a nail gun with 30 to 35 mm nails to speed the job up) making sure the battens are exactly the same distance apart all the way up.
This is ankle wrenching, back bending, finger nipping, toe curling, hanging on with one hand and one knee, buttock clenching, work, but, none the less, very satisfying.
Once the battens are on and you are feeling a bit more confident you can just simply walk up them (where they cross a chevron) like little steps.
You lay the membrane over the chevrons and then batten over the top until you reach the bit where you have to overlap the membrane (10 to 15 cms) so any ingress of water runs down to the eaves and just keep going until you reach the top.
You should have a neat straight line when you reach the ridge. The ends of the tiles will be hidden under the ridge tiles anyway to hide the odd few mm difference.
Very difficult to articulate and explain, and no doubt to visualise, but I hope you get the gist of it and if you have a good roofer he will walk you though it anyway.
Cheers
Bentley
Next I will answer the question that maybe poised on some of your lips "what has Mrs Bentley been doing during the roof build as she hasn't been mentioned for a while.
Well she has been busy as the next installment will show.
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