Work on the re-build began on 30 March with the removal of some of the front roof sheets, along with the original frontage, in order to assess the general state of the roof rafters. At this point we discovered that a number of the rafters as well as the complete front would require replacing due to rot and woodworm. The job, like all tasks on an old property, just became more involved.
We replaced the old frontage with shed lap painted in the now “traditional” Pool Cottage cream to match Nelly. The really bad rafters were replaced or repaired and treated to protect from future attacks from woodworm. All this work took a full 3 days to complete, but we were now ready to remove the remaining roof sheets, this was achieved by grinding the heads off the retaining spring nails and then lifting and sliding the old sheets down to ground level.
As expected a number of repairs were also necessary on the remaining beams, this was completed by Tuesday 4th April, things were going great and the weather Gods had been kind, with no inkling of rain. This all changed for Wednesday, the forecast was for wind and rain throughout the day. Given that the garage has a loft floor made of chipboard floorboards, which is not in the least bit waterproof, we had to somehow completely cover the roof. John our neighbour stepped up and offered us the biggest tarp I’ve ever seen! This covered the whole roof with space to spare and avoided some very soggy and swollen flooring.
With the weather Gods back in our corner, we set about spraying all the woodwork with a preservative and fitting a waterproof Tyvek moisture barrier and 2”x 2” purlins to support the new panels. These panels are made of sheet metal coated in slate grey plastisol, machine pressed to look like a pantile roof. Whilst they look great, they’re very fragile and prone to kinking especially when lifting them onto the roof in windy conditions. The weather forecast was consulted and we were smiled upon; a 2 day mini heat-wave and winds reaching a maximum of 4 mph, but this would be over by Sunday. Once again friends and family rallied round. Mike Whyte pitched up on Friday and within an afternoon we had one side completed, despite much cursing about our greengage tree! He seemed happier after a couple of beers.
On Saturday Ben and Edgar were on hand and now we were “expert” roofers, the 2nd side went even quicker. The results, as can be seen in the last couple of pics, totally transformed the external look of the garage and have been much admired by a number of passers-by. Sunday dawned to high winds and rain, but the roof was on, lucky or smiled upon? Either way, Sunday was a day of rest.
In part 3, we will see how the fitting of the guttering and drainage went and hopefully how the makeover to the interior is going.