Category: Roof

For this week’s worth of work, with lots of weather interruptions along the way, we started the actual process of putting up our Slates! Using our new collection of tools and equipment, we projected a line up the roof at right angle from the Fascia to serve as the master reference line to work from. We started to use a blue chalk line to snap down lines from top to bottom but the rain nearly washed it away after doing the first 20 lines. So we reinforced the refernece line with a solid black marker pen and then marked each batten with 204mm spacings using a old metal tape which we prepared with marks so we don’t have to keep measuring the spacings each time.
After the marks were redone, the first job to do was to cover up the Gutters with our galvanised metal mesh (1 quarter inch spaced grid and holes) by aligning the bottom edge to the front of the gutter’s upright plank, stapling it down (on top of the rubber membrane already there) and then lifting the mesh up to the first line of the tile battens. Here we also stapled it down (using stainless steel staples) and then folded up the excess mesh backwards so we had a padding of this mesh to support the bottom line of slates hanging over the gutters (the padding acts like the missing third layer of slate). Finally, we screwed down a fixing cap of oak timber we had previously made, on top of the mesh and rubber, using stainless steel wood screws with nice large dome heads to clamp down everything. We trimmed off the excess rubber away and the whole thing now look neat and tidy.

After that, We started in the bottom outside corner (the join between H and I sections of the roof) and working left to right, started putting on the slates. But the first task was to slice a dozen slate tiles to remove 112mm off their lengths, because the first layer which is hanging over the gutters needed this amount removed to align up with the bottom edge of the second layer. This ensures that any rain water flowing down the roof is still captured by at least one layer of slate before reaching the guttering. We had to smile because we nearly got caught by the “rookie mistake” of not turning over these shortened tiles upside down so the bevelled edges are visible from below and the first and second slates sit flat together back to back!
After that, it was a case of getting into the practice of nailing our nails in for each row before putting in the next slates (thus avoiding discovering afterwards that we missed some nails!!) and also remembering to turn the slates upside down when using the guillotine too, because the guillotine works downwards and causes the bevelling edge effect as the blade explodes through the slate.

We are learning as we go along!
The next thing for us to learn, is doing the diagonal shaped slates when we interface to the hip edge. After having sneaked a training video on the net, we had that one sorted too and we were able to complete 5 rows before the end of the day.

We continued on the next two days and doing three slates at a time for each row, working diagonally back towards the hip, this being the best compromise between doing more at once against having to lean over to far sideways (and slightly above) to nail in the next hooks and slide in the slates.
When we reached the inside corner, at the bottom of the valley between the I and J roof slopes and had to spend some time there to sort out the metal mesh, to shape it , cut it and bend it, to cover up the corner of the gutters and the end of the fibre-glass trough. We then completed a total of 9 stripes.

Finally, on the last day, Saturday, we could work on installing the slates without pausing to cope with another challenge like a valley, we got about 300 slates up, we had to go and load up our three “boxes on wheels” (which hold about 110 slates each) with slates from the eleven crates waiting alongside our Loke.
We finished the day by installing the second fibre-glass trough section to join on to the first one. We are getting quicker and completed 15 stripes!

We are about half way up and we will resume on Monday, weather permitting, and hopefully get the rest of the roof done by Tuesday. At which point, we will start on the J section at the bottom again!

Today, we took the opportunity of the fine sunny but cold weather to take our Lift Shaft outside and install it against the walkway platform running around the back of the building. It was positioned against the start of the “I” section of the roof, mounted on a 8feet by 4feet sheet plywood. We also anchored it up at the top of the nearest leg of the platform to ensure that it won’t get blown over in high winds or topple with heavy loads inside it.

We had to slide the cargo cage up inside the Lift Shaft while it was lying on its back, entering from the bottom. Then push the whole thing upright by lifting at the other end (the top end) and slowly walk it gradually upright. It was also anchored at the bottom to the plywood base sheet too.
We then hooked up the hoist motor at the top of the shaft using a metal pole and unwound the cable down to the cage. The final job was to mount on a second ramp on the other side of the cage, the side facing the platform walkway so we can trundle our dolly trolleys off. We tested the capabilities of the whole system by first loading several heavy concrete blocks into the cargo cage (about 75kg of load) and ran it up and down several times.
Then we went to our slate storage area and loaded up one of our dolly trolleys full of slate tiles, we managed to put in two rows of 60 slates. We took that back again using our modified flat-bed trolley and loaded it into the cage. We weighed this and the cage on a bathroom scales and it came to just short of 150kg and the cage being about 40kg itself which leaves about 110kg for the box of slates. This latest load test was handled just fine!

That is the basic lifting system all done, mechanically speaking at least, but we have ordered some electrical switches, push buttons, limit switches (to detect the position of the cargo cage) and relays plus a micro-controller (tiny computer) chip to join all these pieces with some logic to achieve a much better system of having the ability to push a button to send it up and automatically stopping at the top, and do the same with another button at the top to send it down again. It will have other safety features like the ramp must be folded up and secured before the lift can start moving.

Today, we created the Lift Shaft to take our box on wire up and down. It measures 730mm by 760mm (internal measurement of 680mm square, the size of the cargo cage) and it is nearly 5metres (16feet) long, or rather tall when it is standing up.

We also created the support framework to hold the metal bar which in turn is holding in place the electric hoist.
And finally, a little sloping roof installed at the top end and we will wrap some heavy duty plastic to protect the motor, electrical wiring and control boxes from rain water.
Tomorrow, we will man-handle it outside and rotate it upright on to a flat base to anchor it, slide it against the platform walkway and make any final adjustments including putting on the second ramp at the top.

Today, we started building various pieces of equipment to help us lift our Slate tiles up to our working platform. We need a lifting mechanism to raise our dolly trolley load of slates so we created a cage measuring 2feet square by 4feet tall, with castor wheels in each corner, both at the bottom and the top.

The cage will be connected from the middle point, via a steel wire, to our electric hoist and controlled by several push buttons and the cage will move up and down inside a framework to keep the cage straight and stop it twisting around or jamming up.
The other task was to adapt our medium sized flatbed trolley so it can transport three of our dolly boxes to and from the crates of slates, including a little ramp that will bridge the gap to the cage in our lift mechanism.

Tomorrow, we will build the lift shaft, all 16feet of it!!