Stone roof "tiles"aren't uncommon around here and they're just a thing of beauty to behold.
Hubby used to stop at Home Bargains near stonehenge on his way home. Their fat balls are much loved by our birds. Our nearest store is in Barnstaple ,a town for which I have a deep dislike. The last time I was in that store was after taking a work van to Mercedes on the same industrial estate.
B&M Bargains is similar, but they're both a bit hit and miss when it comes to garden stock.
I think I'm going to shove the strawberries in one of the empty beds in the allotment ,even if it's just for a crop in spring before using the beds for something else.
Stone roof - well strictly speaking slate is stone, so a slate roof is a stone roof. I've no idea where p'doc is, but for example, if you look at more or less any old Cotswold village house, they all have stone roofs. Basically just shingles made out of flat pieces of stone so from a distance they look not unlike tiles.
The main problem with them is generally just age - old roofs don't have the waterproof sheet that modern roofs have under the tiles. If one of the stones has slipped or cracked it'll leak straight away, but even if it's not damaged because all the stone 'tiles' are hand made and therefore slightly different sizes, you might get a short one or a slightly too narrow one. Then when the wind is in the wrong direction - and it has been windy the last day or so - it can blow the rain up under the stones and you get a dripping leak. There may not be anything really wrong with it.
The best long term fix is to take it all off, put a waterproof sheet over and then put them all back. Not a cheap job and most modern roofers are at a bit of a loss with a stone and peg roof.
Last edited: 11 September 2017 17:50:27
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Thanks for that doc - I thought you'd have said slate if that's what they were! They sound beautiful
Surprisingly - even some 'modern' houses ( only around 50 or 60 years old) don't have decent waterproofing under the tiles r'girl. My ex partner's was a classic example, and there was hardly a winter went by that it didn't lose a tile or two, so it would have been a problem if it hadn't been sorted quickly. You'd think that by the fifties and sixties, house builders would have at least ensured we could have a waterproof roof. Slightly necessary in this country !
I used to visit B&M too Hosta (or the 'BAM' shop as we call it - Glaswegians will understand that ) but the other one is nearer. The little sphaerocaphalon alliums are always cheap in there, and I usually have to top them up as the squirrels love them
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I've just realised that's where my sphaerocephalon alliums must have been going, Fairy... I feel a bulb-buying trip coming on, once work on the little house is finished. I'll definitely deserve a small spending spree by then, I think... OH can't manage long decorating stints cos he gets too tired, so I do most of it. That suits me, actually - though his extra height is sometimes very useful.
The loo is operational! It only took 3 goes to get the new washer thingy in the right way round and the right way up...
We have a stone roof here too. A heavy storm just before we moved in showed that we definitely had to have some remedial work - we ran out of buckets and pans to put under the drips - and we had a membrane put on under the stones. I love the harmonious effect you get from local stone used for walls and roof in vernacular buildings.
I'm off out to sing again this evening. Keeps me sane when I can't get in the garden.
Last edited: 11 September 2017 19:15:52
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Ah well you being 27 and all, you wouldn't be aware of this but Building Regulations as we know them only really came into existence in the 1970s and 80s. There were various Acts of Parliament before that which had some building code elements - the Clean Air Act, the Factories Act - and local building codes in towns and cities. London has had fire regulations of some sort since the Great Fire in 1666. But really it was Ronan Point in 1968 that was the trigger for more comprehensive regulations. They only got round to rules for things like insulation and roof construction much later.
So when I say 'modern' houses, I really mean ones that are less than about 40 years old
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Apart from being beautiful, vernacular buildings - especially farmhouses that were built for little money by the people who lived in them - teach us a lot about building well for specific climates. I love them
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Oh yes - r'girl - I'm far too young to remember anything before the nineties
I wonder if our building regs up here are different to English ones though? One of the problems is that things can change so quickly re new building regs.
Watching the Grand Tours(Lochs) now. Soothes my fevered brow
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
Hiya Fairy.
Stone roof "tiles"aren't uncommon around here and they're just a thing of beauty to behold.
Hubby used to stop at Home Bargains near stonehenge on his way home. Their fat balls are much loved by our birds. Our nearest store is in Barnstaple ,a town for which I have a deep dislike. The last time I was in that store was after taking a work van to Mercedes on the same industrial estate.
B&M Bargains is similar, but they're both a bit hit and miss when it comes to garden stock.
I think I'm going to shove the strawberries in one of the empty beds in the allotment ,even if it's just for a crop in spring before using the beds for something else.
Last edited: 11 September 2017 17:45:58
Stone roof - well strictly speaking slate is stone, so a slate roof is a stone roof. I've no idea where p'doc is, but for example, if you look at more or less any old Cotswold village house, they all have stone roofs. Basically just shingles made out of flat pieces of stone so from a distance they look not unlike tiles.
The main problem with them is generally just age - old roofs don't have the waterproof sheet that modern roofs have under the tiles. If one of the stones has slipped or cracked it'll leak straight away, but even if it's not damaged because all the stone 'tiles' are hand made and therefore slightly different sizes, you might get a short one or a slightly too narrow one. Then when the wind is in the wrong direction - and it has been windy the last day or so - it can blow the rain up under the stones and you get a dripping leak. There may not be anything really wrong with it.
The best long term fix is to take it all off, put a waterproof sheet over and then put them all back. Not a cheap job and most modern roofers are at a bit of a loss with a stone and peg roof.
Last edited: 11 September 2017 17:50:27
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Hiya fairy.
They are sandstone, about 1 inch thick and about 3 X 2 foot.
They are beautiful, but are hard to get hold of, so a lot of people use concrete replicas.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Thanks for that doc - I thought you'd have said slate if that's what they were! They sound beautiful
Surprisingly - even some 'modern' houses ( only around 50 or 60 years old) don't have decent waterproofing under the tiles r'girl. My ex partner's was a classic example, and there was hardly a winter went by that it didn't lose a tile or two, so it would have been a problem if it hadn't been sorted quickly. You'd think that by the fifties and sixties, house builders would have at least ensured we could have a waterproof roof. Slightly necessary in this country !
I used to visit B&M too Hosta (or the 'BAM' shop as we call it - Glaswegians will understand that
) but the other one is nearer. The little sphaerocaphalon alliums are always cheap in there, and I usually have to top them up as the squirrels love them 
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I've just realised that's where my sphaerocephalon alliums must have been going, Fairy...
I feel a bulb-buying trip coming on, once work on the little house is finished. I'll definitely deserve a small spending spree by then, I think... OH can't manage long decorating stints cos he gets too tired, so I do most of it. That suits me, actually - though his extra height is sometimes very useful.
The loo is operational! It only took 3 goes to get the new washer thingy in the right way round and the right way up...
We have a stone roof here too. A heavy storm just before we moved in showed that we definitely had to have some remedial work - we ran out of buckets and pans to put under the drips - and we had a membrane put on under the stones. I love the harmonious effect you get from local stone used for walls and roof in vernacular buildings.
I'm off out to sing again this evening. Keeps me sane when I can't get in the garden.
Last edited: 11 September 2017 19:15:52
Did you manage to keep your legs crossed long enough Liri?
Enjoy your singing. We all have to have something to keep us sane,don't we?
Dinner made, and eaten, and washing brought in. I don't seem to have done much else apart from that. and it's already half seven
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Ah well you being 27 and all, you wouldn't be aware of this but Building Regulations as we know them only really came into existence in the 1970s and 80s. There were various Acts of Parliament before that which had some building code elements - the Clean Air Act, the Factories Act - and local building codes in towns and cities. London has had fire regulations of some sort since the Great Fire in 1666. But really it was Ronan Point in 1968 that was the trigger for more comprehensive regulations. They only got round to rules for things like insulation and roof construction much later.
So when I say 'modern' houses, I really mean ones that are less than about 40 years old
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Apart from being beautiful, vernacular buildings - especially farmhouses that were built for little money by the people who lived in them - teach us a lot about building well for specific climates. I love them
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Oh yes - r'girl - I'm far too young to remember anything before the nineties
I wonder if our building regs up here are different to English ones though? One of the problems is that things can change so quickly re new building regs.
Watching the Grand Tours(Lochs) now. Soothes my fevered brow
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Individual Scottish burghs have had building regulations from the the 17th century through the Dean of Guild courts.