Traditionally (before 1920) tiles were secured by hanging them over thin oak or willow
battens (lathes) with an oak peg driven tightly into a small hole at the head of a tile.
The holes were traditionally made with a pointed chipping hammer. This would have
been done shortly after they came out of the ground while the stone was still soft.
When a roof was covered over with stone tiles, the under-side of the roof was then
torched (rendered) between the rafters, using a hair- lime mortar.
Traditionally, many skilled roofers were also skilled at rendering and plastering as is
Cotswold roofing.
Today, when a stone roof is stripped for retiling all battens and torching is stripped out, all
the timbers are denailed and the decaying timbers are replaced using oak, sometimes
a soft wood is substituted for oak rafters but not without approval. Historic timbers such
as wind bracings and smoke blackened medieval rafters should never be removed.
When timbers have been replaced and brushed down is best to spray them with an
Environmentally friendly, anti fugal & woodworm solution.
Today we cover the roof with a
breathable membrane. This acts as a line of defence from wind and also acts as an
insulation. Next a counter batten is laid down the rafter over the membrane, this acts as
an adequate air space allowing circulation of air, it also prevents pucturing the membrane.
The stone tiles should then be laid in the traditional fasion, hung over a batten using an
aluminium or galvanised tile peg. The first tile course is the cussom course(under-eve)
Usually about 330mm to 460mm in height. Then the first course, usually 550mm to
860mm in height. From here the tiles diminish in size all the way to the top. Each tile size
is laid on the batten which has its own batten gauge known by the tiler. Tilers also have
different names for all types of different size and shape of tile.
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