I had worried that removing the roof would seem like a huge step back, leaving us with just the rubble walls and a load of stuff to dispose of. On the other hand, I expected the roof timbers and sarking board to supply us with firewood for a year or two.
When it came to it, it is stopping us working on the stonework, so it has to go. Before Easter we bought our scaffolding and, the day we got on site, set up two bays of it against the inside wall of the west leg i.e. against the gable-end that must be demolished and re-built.
We had discussed about saving the slates and re-using them. The architect was very discouraging, saying they would be poor quality and that we would probably only save a low proportion, possibly enough to re-roof the bothy.
I armed myself with a slaters rip, claw hammer and roof ladder, then got going.
Ridge Tiles: Firstly the clay ridge tiles. From the ground they looked pretty bad and I expected that hacking them out would probably destroy them. Not so, they were in excellent condition, the lime mortar had crumbled and they slid off with little effort on my part. They were all marked with ‘Hurlford by Kilmarnock’. This probably means they were made by J & R Howie of Hurlford, Kilmarnock. I have no idea how old they are, we supposed they must date from the fire that damaged the steading either before or after WWII (depending on whose version you believe). It looks as though the same tiles were used along the entire roofline. http://www.scottishbrickhistory.co.uk/j-r-howie-scotland-kilmarnock/
Clout nails:I discovered very early on that the slates were nailed with standard galvanised clout nails. It was obvious that the rip would not work as advertised – if I hit it hard enough to draw the nail it would a) destroy the rip and b) destroy the slate.
Removing the slates: The course of half-size slates at the top of the roof were single-nailed in the top-centre. Most pulled out easily, indeed several on the other side of the roof fell as I moved the roof ladder about. From then on, it became harder work.
Most of the full-size slates were nailed both sides, a few cm down from the top. The nails were generally knocked flush with the top surface of the slate, but were enough proud in many cases to use a pair of pliers to grab the head, right at the very end of the pliers, then twist and pull the nail to remove it. Those that this did not work with, I used the rip to push under the slate as near the nail as possible, then used the claw of the hammer under that to lever the slate up. In most cases the slate pushed the nail up enough to then pull it with the pliers, without cracking the slate. It looked as though about 4 out of 5 slates survived my treatment AND were in good enough condition to re-use.
The half-length slates at the bottom of the roof were, on the whole, pretty rubbish and just used to cover the edges of the slates above.
We used our chain hoist to get crates of 15 or so slates down at a time, Jill sorted and stacked them.
The slates: The slates were generally smooth underneath, pretty flat and with no signs of imperfections such as pyrite (which oxidises, expands and breaks up the slate). They had a reasonably good ‘ring’ to them and were rather rustic. Comparing them to the ones off the old East Byreleask farmhouse (dumped out of the way on Aitken’s land) they are 1) larger, 2) thicker, with quite a bit of variation and 3) with a coarser upper surface finish. I actually prefer our slates. We left three slates, in varying degrees of preservation, with Jill’s parents. They should have a slater around to work on their roof and they will ask him whether they are fit to use again. I think the slates at the top of the roof were, on average, thinner than the ones at the gutter.
[Updated 17/04/2015: The slater said they were good quality Welsh slate and were good to re-use. If we wanted, say, Spanish slate, he would buy the old slates and we would probably profit from it. This brings to mind what may be an Urban (Rural) Myth that I heard twice in quick succession – that a slater would persuade the owner of a roof to remove them, saying they were not fit to re-use. They would offer to dispose of the old slate, which they indeed sold on, making a double profit over just fitting new slates.]
It is slow!: It is unbelievably slow – after four part-days we had cleared some 4% or the total roof area. I got a bit quicker, but not much.
The Skylights: There are a couple of dozen of these monsters dotted around the roof. They are made of cast iron, with the opening part hinged at the top and with a glazing bar down the middle. They are chunky, with little room for glass. They came away much more easily that I had feared. I used a prybar to lever the nails out – one each side halfway up and two at the top, just about on the corners. There was a strip of galvanised mild steel under the lower edge, but no additional strengthening in the timberwork. Each one weighed a good 30 kg.
The Roof Timbers: It was obvious the sarking board was in a bad state. They were worm-eaten and often the nails would pull out easily. Once I had cleared the slates above the scaffolding, I removed the boards and was horrified at what had been holding me up (on the roofing ladder). Most broke apart in clouds of dust, only a small number of boards still had any flex in them. It was a quick job to remove them, but they are not really usable as firewood – we will have a bonfire at some point.
By removing the boarding, I came to realise that there was no beam along the top of the roof – once the boarding on the other side of the roof is removed, there is nothing to stop each pair of rafters simply falling sideways – I will take advice on this.
Meanwhile we need to think out how to speed up the un-roofing – we are even thinking about unpaid leave from work.
East Byreleask Steading 