An Orkney Build (in ICF)

You could have saved money and used fibreglass valleys and soakers, and just used the lead for the "skews"
 

Fibreglass was something I asked about early on, but was advised against.  Its reputation up here isn't good, and having spoken to two local surveyors about it since, I'm rather glad we didn't go down that route.  Of course the poor reputation of fibreglass up here, could be down to a few poor installations rather than anything to do with the product itself. Lead just seems to be the preferred and more robust option up here.  Also looks better (IMHO).

 

 

I bet you're pleased. It looks great and will last forever 

Yes, really pleased.  One of the alternatives we did consider (when we were thinking about having part of the roof finished with Tata standing seam, was using a powder coated aluminium skew colour matched to the standing seam.  

 

Aluminium skews and soakers would have been more expensive to buy, but probably quicker and therefore cheaper to fit, but I'm not convinced they would have kept their looks as well as I anticipate lead will, over the coming years.  Lead gives a timeless appearance (judging by the lead skews we see around Orkney) and we believe it will ground the house into the local style in a way that a plastic dry verge system wouldn't.

 

Adding up the cost of each gable skew, they are coming out around £750 each.  Expensive compared to a dry verge, but then no gable fascias or soffits to finish in UPVC or aluminium, so perhaps not as expensive as you may first think.  Overall it's still cheaper putting in skews than slating (or artificial slating) the roof given the area we had to cover, as that was really the only other way we could have avoided using a dry verge system.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2016 by Stones

The lead work is a feature as well as functional. Clearly guys with pride in their work   

Looks really nice, but needs a contrasting colour to compliment, so it'll be nice to see the walls and windows finished to bring it all together. 

The roofer must be a 3 Weetabix guy for sure ! All neat work, you must be very happy.

All of the guys we have had on site certainly do seem to have shown a real pride in their work, which yes, makes me very, very happy.

TBH, I can't wait for the external finishing to be done and we can see the house properly.   The windows are coming finished in a 'granite' powder coated finish, so a slight texture which changes in appearance with the sun, and is very much in keeping with the lead.

Contrast will come in the form of colour, material and texture - a nice crisp slightly off white render to one section of the house and  larch timber cladding to the rear section (which we are leaving to weather down). Larch fascias will be common to all of the house as will either galvanised or black guttering.  

Did you put patination oil on the lead up on the skews. Stops the staining of the tiles.

No.

 

I've started a new topic to discuss this:

 

 

Edited July 25, 2016 by Stones

Really interesting. Thanks for posting this.

 

Do you know what the tiles you used were? Look very similar to the Marley Modern we are looking to use. 

Yes, 

 

Redland Mini Stonewald (black coated)

 

You've explained it all really well - but excuse my ignorance - I'm missing something ... Are there any skews at the ends of the main sections of the roof ? around the end of the tiles next to the larch larch fascias?  are those tiles simply held down by their own weight?

The skews are present on all gables as a direct alternative to dry verge.  The end of the tiles overhangs the lead soakers (a hidden gutter in effect) by 2 inches.  The folded edge of the soaker is pushed up to the underside of the tile ends.  All tiles are double nailed and clipped.  At the soaker / skew junction, black Soudal roof sealant is used as an additional way of securing each course of tile to the next.  I've tried moving them and they are rock solid.