Building Blox: Week 14 – Roof windows and tiling

What we did:

• Roof lights installed,
• Roof structure cont.,
• Roof tiling started.

This week saw the eagerly anticipated installation of the roof lights, which also meant tiling could start, adding another couple of members to our growing team.

During the week we were also hit with some bad weather which slowed progress, much to the dismay of my contractor so wasn’t so impressed with the pace at which the chippies had been going.

Front of roof takes shape

If the back of the roof was characterised as an aircraft carrier, the front side was more like a bespoke yacht, with more intricate timberwork and detailing. I was always quite excited to see how this would work out and it didn’t disappoint the construction geek in me.

Covering the roof

Now the roof structure was near completion and insulation has been added between the rafters, it was covered up. The specification of the materials and make up is chosen by the energy efficiency engineer, also known as SAP engineers, although this is usually fairly standard.

Here’s a diagram of my spec:

Roof covering detail

Following installation of the insulation between the rafters, another layer is placed on top of the roof and then covered with a felt membrane to stop moisture seeping in. The membrane must also be separated from the insulation by an air gap – this is because when the roof gets warm, it often ‘sweats’, i.e. condensation forms, so an air gap is necessary to allow any moisture to dissipate away. Above this go the battens on which the tiles are fixed.

Let there be (roof) lights...

Before the tiles were fitted, the roof lights, or Veluxes, (think Google to search engines or Hoover to vacuum cleaners), were installed. I’ll let the pictures speak more here:

Next week would likely be more of the same as the tiling continued and we worked towards getting the building watertight.

Overlooking the site