More on Tiling

The tiling of the roof has continued this week. By the end of Friday this was the only section of the main roof area that remains to be done :

There are still the dormers to do, but I understand that these are going to be left until the window surrounds are installed, in case there are some last minute adjustments to the frame.

One of the fiddly bits of the roofing, especially on this project. is cutting the triangular tiles that line the lead gullies to the sides of the gables. This photo shows one of them where the right hand side has been cut, and the left is still to be done :

Apparently, when doing roofs like this, the builders used to cut each tile individually to fit. Now, however, they find it easier to lay them first, then cut them all in one go later (though you can see from the photo, that some of the bigger tiles need to have a corner nibbled off in order to fit at all). The final cut is done with a disk cutter, up against a plank, with another length of wood underneath to help protect the lead.

To cap the roof there are some 90 degree angled ridge tiles which sit on a bed of mortar :

Note that directly under the ridge is a final layer of small tiles that do not hang from a batten. They are actually hooked directly over the row of tiles below them, to complete the sequence of overlaps that go all the way down the roof, and prevent the majority of water from ever reaching the felting.

I don't know if I have mentioned it before in this blog, but the tiles come with a lug at the top that hooks over the battens. Below the lug are two holes which can be used to additionally nail the tile to the batten. Every 5th row is nailed.