Just moved into our project :-)

[jackpoint]

I certainly seem to keep doing something at the moment....

CRASH :lol:

That would be one of the original bedroom ceilings.
Even better was the fact that it jammed the bedroom door shut so I had to climb in through the roof to unblock it :lol: :lol:

It may be sacrilege round these here parts, but I hate lathe and plaster. And I hate the smell of lathe and plaster. The old joists were very pretty though

 

[jackpoint]

Tis flippin' raining again!

Firstly I would like to mention our lovely builders - they are absolutely fantastic - Love You

Anyhow, now that's out of the closet...

We have a new chim chimeneey - yay!

Need to buy a new pot though - boo!

And here's a sneaky peeky at the back - Very very exciting! (well for us at least :lol: ) - yay!

We are over budget - boo!

 

[jackpoint]

Some random happenings...
Looking from downstairs all the way up, including view of lovely green temp tarp roof.

All propped up to replace a steel Hey ho.

Different direction.

Odd angles for photos but will hopefully become clearer at some point. They have re-jigged the roof structure to keep a nice old beam visible

Valley shot. My God lead is expensive :shock: :shock: :shock:


That's it for now...

 

[LadyArowana]

Almost done :lol: in before Christmas ?

 

[DJH]

Good progress...

Just a few thoughts about your lead valley depending of course on the thickness of lead you've used...code 5 for example should have a bay length of no more than 2000 mm and a girth of no more than 800 mm.

It's difficult from the photo to get a sense of size but I would have thought that the highest bays would have benefited from a centre roll dividing them into two smaller pieces of lead to accommodate the expansion to which it will be subject because of their sheltered position. Valley gutters are subject to the full strength of the sun and, because of the job they do, also subject to sudden decrease in temperature following showers which have the effect of cooling the lead almost instantly.

The drip (step) heights look adequate (latest thinking is 55 mm up to code 6 lead and 60 mm for 7 & 8 ) but I would be concerned about the length of the splash lap nearest the camera. It's best to omit splash laps in these situations as they can collect atmospheric dirt etc, which becomes lodged under the lap, slowing the drainage of water and could lead to water being sucked up by capillary attraction with the risk of ingress up the drip in the worst case scenario.

Just a few thoughts that may, if sorted now, lead ( is that a pun? ) to fewer problems in the future for you... :wink:

Doug

 

[jackpoint]

Christmas 2015 has been spoken about. HoHoHolyCr@p

Ta for the heads up - the wife was quite concerned about the valley and the guys doubled checked the heights codes laps whatnots and talked her through it, I believe they still ended up 'overspecking' it for her. There is also some monsoonery forecast for the weekend :shock:
Funnily enough I asked which one of them ran the warranty department the other day :roll:

Time will tell...

 

[jackpoint]

As an aside, I found it amazing how strong the original roof structure was. It was wormy with skinny wonky little timbers laid (according to current wisdom) the wrong way and refused to budge without an awful lot of beating, sawing and other methods of persuasion. At one point someone was stood on just the lathe and plaster ceiling and the flipping thing hardly moved :roll: When you look at the new roof it does seem a little bit like overkill

 

[DJH]

Sounds to me as though the roofer did the leadwork then...

Doug

 

[jackpoint]

Have a little faith

 

[DJH]

Yea I should. Years of experience knocked that out of me I'm afraid.

I remember one client telling me that the previous leadworker had been a master craftsman and a top leadworker. I resisted the temptation to ask why it was that hardly ten years later we were replacing the lead he had laid...

Doug

 

[LadyArowana]

Yea I should. Years of experience knocked that out of me I'm afraid.

I remember one client telling me that the previous leadworker had been a master craftsman and a top leadworker. I resisted the temptation to ask why it was that hardly ten years later we were replacing the lead he had laid...

Doug

 

[jackpoint]

Haha, I don't think anyone here has yet claimed to be a master of anything :lol: (edit...maybe sarcasm and pi $$ taking in hindsight)
Will talk to the guys about splash laps and capillaried things. I do remember being surprised when they told me how much lead moves around, I had just assumed it was very stable due to its density.

Cheers

 

[DJH]

0.000297 for every degree Celsius so a piece 2000 mm could move up to 6 mm when exposed to strong sunlight in a sheltered position. If the lead is over fixed ( correctly up to 3 degrees fixed by the head or undercloak with fixings down one third from the top only. Over 3 degrees down one side for a third of the length ) then it can't move properly and a ridge will form across the width and lead to fatigue splitting or cracking.

The correct size of girth is calculated by measuring the sole ( the flat bit) and adding about 250 mm for upstands. These upstands finish below the tilting fillet and separate piece of lead is extended down over the fillet and over the upstand covering it by about 150 mm. The lead gutter should not be nailed at the sides unless the pitch of the gutter is more than say 3 degrees...

That looks like the feller who nicked the lead off the vestry of my local church... :evil:

Doug

 

[jackpoint]

Our church is currently in need of a bit of tlc and they have been quoted an outrageous amount of money to get it sorted. It's not right :evil:

Valley is less than 700 at widest point

More roof replacement. More steel

Heavy rain due Saturday. ..poop.

 

[jackpoint]

Heavy rain due Saturday my arse!

Half one in the morning wifey is kicking me in the bunk bed...
W.'There's someone out there nicking our bricks'
Me. 'Marglefpllzzzzz'
W. 'Wake up, I can hear someone walking about on the scaffolding'
Me. 'Zzzzzzzzz'
W. 'WAKE UP! Or I'll go up and look.'
Me. 'M'kay zzz'
So I drag some clothes on and have a peek out and up just as some sheet lightning silhouettes a figure on the roof :shock: :evil:
Me. 'Fiddle' (or words to that effect :lol: )
Then I twig - bless him, it's our builder. Turns out he had seen/heard the storm brewing from his nice warm bed and came back to cover the roof - they hadn't bothered that afternoon because nothing was forecast until Saturday and it was a lovely evening.
So there we are at silly o'clock sheeting the last bit of roof in while fork lightning flashes all around - bl@@dy funny and a little disconcerting :lol: :lol: :roll:
Just as we finish the heavens open and it monsoons.
You just couldn't make it up

 

[LadyArowana]

Wow, what a great builder to come back and do that. I'm glad you both stayed safe.

 

[Flyfisher]

Wow - gold star for your builder!

More roof replacement. More steel

I'm no structural engineer but I'm wondering why that big lump of steel is necessary?

 

[DJH]

Blimey...he's a good chap your builder.

You're right about the cost of leadwork nowadays. The price of the material is dependant on the commodities market which in turn reacts to speculators who, since the market crash, make money from manipulating the price of materials (gold,silver, copper, lead etc) instead.

When I retired about 8 years ago the LME (London Metal Exchange) price of lead on which retail prices are based was about £650 per ton. Within a year the price had rocketed past £2000 per ton. As I was buying on average about 45 tons per month the increase in cost was unsustainable and prompted me to retreat to Tipperary!! As with all things the price hasn't seemed to drop at all... :roll:

Add to these costs the onerous conditions of working on historic residential and religious buildings, the Working at Height regulations, the costs of maintaining Health and Safety Considerations (toilets, washing showering and refreshment facilities etc) scaffolding, Public Liability Insurance which, because of the risk of fire, is expensive. I could go on but we coped and I managed not to set anything on fire...

I have some sympathy with smaller contractors (as I was) with coping in business nowadays as a profit has to be made to pay taxes, wages and to finance ongoing work. Not easy...

Doug

 

[Flyfisher]

I've never quite been in the '45 tons per month' league of lead working, but when I was buying lead for my roofing projects the thing that annoyed me was that the price would vary slightly from month to month.

I can understand that the market price fluctuates because of all the speculative trading nonsense that goes on in City trading rooms, but I was buying rolls of lead from stock in Jewsons not buying lead futures. The lead was right there, sitting on the shelf and already paid for!

I don't recall it ever becoming cheaper though. Funny that.

 

[DJH]

That's right FF. A daily or sometimes weekly price based on the LME is used to calculate the price of lead. Copper as well I'm afraid. It makes pricing for work very difficult as although a contract can be agreed with suppliers for a certain length of time any delays or extreme jump in price will be reflected at some stage.

Glad I'm out of it.

Doug