Donnie the plumber has been beating the lead sheets onto the roof for several days now. It is evidently skilled work - it takes hours to hammer each section into shape and to fashion all the joints to keep things watertight. It is also hard, tiring work. He was here today putting in some weekend time to take advantage of the dry weather we have at the moment.
Most of the sheets are in place. The remaining ones will be the most challenging, as they will include the join to the roof of the existing house. That involves removing part of the skew (the cement capping on the gable) and some of the roof tiles, fitting and welding the lead into place and then replacing the tiles and casting a new skew.
There is also the challenge of making a watertight join to the GRP of the existing flat roof. It can't be glued because of the differential in the expansion and contraction rates of lead and GRP as they are warmed and cooled by the weather. It can't be nailed - for obvious reasons.
Donnie looks confident. He says he has 'a good plan'.
When he is finished, we should see the rest of the slates going onto this side of the roof.
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