Torching and CO's

[Anne]

I just had a wonderful meeting with my CO, and after much worry about how it would all go, it went brilliantly. I guess people who want to do things right really have nothing to worry about.

Anyway that said something came up which I'd never heard of before. We have an unfelted or insulated slate roof, just the undersides of the slates showing and he recommended torching the roof. What a name for the thing when you'd never heard of it before but once I figured out he didn't want to set it on fire, I'm really interested in this procedure and wondered if anyone has any experience with the process or lives in a house where the roof has been torched. I love the idea of lime being up there as I really don't want normal insulation or even nice normal insulation.

 

[Paul Hopper]

Anne

very popular in the 1860-1900 period and in places, even later. It is usually a lime mortar light render intended to keep wind and weather out, They do not have to be slates either, we have peg tiles on several roof piches and these were torched up about ten years ago as the old was letting the weather in. SPAB should have good suggestions and a reasonable plasterer with sound conservation experience will know what to do. Beware those who suggest underlining betwen the rafters with plasterboard (of any kind) that is not restoration, its sacriledge! You can do it yourself with the right mix (see SPAB) it is'nt hard, just means balancing on thin ceiling joists and carrying buckets of mortar into the roof void, Not for those afraid of spiders etc., and putting up with frequent back massages.. Do not be afraid of it, it is quite common all over the country and not so difficult for the young and fit.Go for it!

paul

 

[middi]

Simply put Anne, is pointing the gap between the exposed batten and the underside of the tile with a lime mortar at the gable ends of a roof.

On the internal part the same procedure was applied, exept that even then builders used to take short cuts and pack it with straw with very little mortar,

It is very easy to do

 

[Gervase]

Our place has a torched roof. It's a messy job to do, but surprisngly effective. Use a lime-rich mix, a bit runnier than you would for plastering, and just slap it onto the battens with a guaging trowel so that it forms a fillet against the slate and the batten.
Er, that's it.