ToughButterCup

Anticipating the odd mishap, I nipped to my local roofing suppliers and arrive just as they are opening. Some Kloeber TR tape please.... Dun't do it mmmeeert Que? 'Ow dja fix rips in roofing felt then? Round yer, they uses Duct tape: that Kloeber stoof is too costly meeert. But the customer will never see the cost of the tape: it's £30 a roll, or something like that. Naaaaw, they wunt buyit yer. That's it: Virgin no more. I used to think that one of the key things for our build is to support local business. It's not as if I haven't had trouble with that company before.... Stuff it.

Well @Barney12, and @Russell griffiths 'taint that easy. Here's why. Slap bang in the middle of the roof is our solar PV. The battens for that are wooden. There's a few meters left and right, above and below which aren't. Those battens will be surrounded, as it were, by metal Nulock battens. The issue of falling between the rafters isn't..... an issue that is. I have been fitting counter battens for the last couple of days and walking up the roof on the rafters is now 'normal'. It's a measured risk which I have mitigated with appropriate safety gear. I have no choice I think: top to bottom and pray for light to calm conditions. If it blows, batten and then tape.

I have scoured `YooChube for how to videos without success, so I'm asking here. This is such a basic question Im almost embarrassed to ask.....? Which way round do you lay roofing felt - top to bottom or vice versa.? My roofing felt is Kloeber NG. I ask because I'm trying to avoid walking on it as I'm laying it: seems to me to be an avoidable risk. If I were to lay it bottom to top, I'd have to lay temporary battens, (so I can walk up the rafters) which would then mean sealing those holes when the battens are removed. And I'm wondering if it's possible to avoid that. I'll be laying it on my own.... So top to bottom will be a right pain. A bit easier if I get up there very early because it'll be calmer then. Ya just can't get the staff these days squire. Yours sincerely, The Roofing Virgin

Gary, if you are out of step, then there's no hope for the rest of us mate.

Relevant section from SPONS: Slab paving precast concrete paving slabs on subbase; including excavation m² 47.00 to 60.00 precast concrete tactile paving slabs on subbase; including excavation m² 68.00 to 86.00 York stone slab paving on subbase; including excavation m² 120.00 to 155.00 imitation York stone slab paving on subbase; including excavation m² 80.00 to 100.00 This.... makes me close to certain that there is a hidden agenda.

10% lower than @JSHarris's numbers here. .....IF you can get anyone to work for you that is. On Tuesday, the owner of the largest local independent BM was asking me - perfectly straight-faced - if I knew anyone who needed a job

Quick, silly question, I think the answer is yes. The rafters which forms the outside of the verge has, up to now, been 'sourced from our C16 set of rafters. But the architect's spec is for C16, and it doesn't mention ' treated ' ..... And I'm about to fit the last one, but we've run out of C16 9 by 2: tempted to fit normal , plain vanilla, PAR (9 by 2) Does the outside rafter of the verge have to be treated ?

Debbie says I'm already Action Man enough. And there's nowhere for my bubblegum

Its already magnetic. And, no: the bloody things can stay there.

@Ian, @PeterStarck's answer is the one you need. And here's part of the explanation: the tiles have marks on them to ensure you leave an appropriate gap for ventilation

Ta Pete! Ian

Who says roofing doesn't pay? The retired roofer of my acquaintance turns up in his sleek drop-head Merc. Smelling of new leather, a spec of dust here and there, he daintily alights from his car. Rather like a catwalk model, he removes his shades (driving shades you understand, not the roofing shades he uses), puts them in their case, and changes from his bordello-ready driving shoes to his work boots. He's brought his retired mate along fer 't 'craik - laak. A small piece of carpet ( a sample piece) is dropped on the dusty drive, and the bordello-creepers are neatly dropped, side by side, in the exact middle of the carpet . Whassa matter? I ask: Had a bad day? Wodjer mean? Shoes, I say, pointing at them. They are pointing North - South and not East - West like the other roofers who visit here. A big grin. The piss-taking had started before he got to the scaffold . The next hour was going to be fun. Tha's got sum rewfin called Noooooluck, I 'ere. Nulok, I counter. Ya wut? Nulok, Jim. He reaches up to his forehead ostensibly to push his hair back. In reality, he switched his hearing aid on. His mate does the same. Now that, that's a real compliment. They are both listening - or attempting to. More than I get from the average teenager. So I dig the bits and bobs out and he looks at them. Wha's 'at grewve fer then? (top of the image) Dunno, mate says I. Then a gentle sucking sound: the old fogey's sucking his teeth clean, I conclude. Wha's 'at nick fer then? (bottom of the tile) Dunno, mate says I. 'Eeeer, sin this? Wha? The back of the tile does indeed have the word Happiness emblazoned on its surface. You couldn't make it up could ya? I mean, just imagine being the tool maker for the mould in which the tiles are made...... Oh, by the way , the customer wants you to engrave the letters H A P P I N E S S on the back of the mould. Ya wot? Yew avin' a laugh? If it had been me I would have been sorely tempted to change it slightly: but in present company I'd better not write it down. Just ask yourself: how would a French person tend to pronounce Happiness? ..... Remembering that they don't pronounce the letter H. On to the battens They're not messin' abart are they? Why metal? Dunno says I. Tha' dun't knaw much duz ya....... He has a point. And I've delved round 'tinternet for hours as you will suspect. After they both left (of which more in the next post) I came up with this Installation_manualUSA.pdf Something new to get my DIY head into. The current Nulok videos are for advertising purpose, I think. As they left, because the roof of the car was down (they must both have had fond memories of when they were on the pull, I think) I noticed them both surreptitiously switching their hearing aids off. Bless them. Here's looking forward to their return. Installation_manualUSA.pdf

Have a look at this. Just about finished insulating between the rafters, and putting on the counter-battens. There are bits and bats of foam in the 50mm ventilation gap. Do I need to trim the foam flush with the top of the PIR? Thanks in advance. Ian

What an excellent idea. I am working on the roof above the Winter Garden today. That would mean reaching down four meters to retrieve a dropped screw. My back now wishes I had bought a first fix nailer.

Ah... good idea....

2 scroos

Nope. The stalks aren't long enough. The other factors is that I have a devoted partner who de-stalks cherries for me before serving them on a silver platter. In relation to the image: I have a nice little 12 volt Bosch impact drill that fits neatly into one of the pouches.

Fear of that made me put the heads of the screws in my mouth. I recon I can tell the screw head type with my tongue ?

Got a nail bag, but it is a lot faster if I put about five in my mouth and four in my hand, and one being driven. Ibuprofen dose by 10:30 I suppose... ?

..... can you hold in your mouth while screwing your battens down? Please God nothing makes me look up and so swallow a few. ?

I have now built up the verge to the correct height. The plan calls for top of the verge to be insulated with 25mm of PIR. My question is: how best can I fix that insulation in place ? The answer - I think - is to nail or screw a strip to the inside edges of the gap, trapping the PIR in place. I will then felt over the top of that. This is what the verge looks like now..... The blue battens are the counter-battens. I recon I will have something like 40mm (25mm of counter-batten and about 20mm of rafter) to accommodate the fixing (a normal batten on its edge?) which holds the PIR in place. I'd then foam the edges to seal any little gaps. A mate of mine told me he would just cut the PIR into shape and then simply tack-nail the it in place .... Hmmmmm. What do you think?

You're overthinking it....? You have no idea how good it is for me to be able to write that. Overthinking is good: the worry that attaches to it isn't.

I'm half German, half Jock, and we'll on my way to becoming Italian by working practice. Up at 5, out by 6 , hard at it by 6.15; brief lunch. Knock off at 2 Siesta baby. Mmmmm Hmmmm! Back out by 6, fiddle and fuss work, make-do and mend. Why? Roofing in 35+ The foil does a fairly good job on re-directing the sun's rays - specially the ones that missed my face first time round.

Grrrrrr. ? Got someone arriving today to fix a wall plate to our steels. Ordered the appropriate Forgefix TechFast Timber to Steel screws (for delivery Tuesday last) and got the ... "We are working with our partners and others to fulfill this order bollox...." Screwys, Toolstation and local suppliers - Never ' erd o' them mert ' Reliable online supplier of fastenings known to anyone?

Why didn't I think of that now.......? Fanks. Ian