Over My Head

What you choose as a roofing material might not be of too much concern in the big scheme of things. You just want to be dry at the end of a stormy night. Right?

Well, not apparently so.

Around here, the predominant roofing material is blue slate.

(Source: stonepavingdirect.co.uk)

Once it would have been from the Welsh or Cumbrian valleys, trundled by train all over the country. Today it’s more likely to come from somewhere else where it‘s easier to mine and cheaper to produce, just like it’s cheaper to have sandstone imported from India than get it from our local quarry up the road! Madness!

The other older alternative is Yorkshire stone slabs. Heavy and expensive!

(Source: msroofing.co.uk)

So, when we saw the original plans for the house we were surprised to see that it had been approved with a roof not of slate but of metal.

It’s a Kingspan 1000Zip roof specified in grey.

(Source: Specifiedby.com)

These panels are highly insulated and will be (I’m sure) eminently watertight. My only query is why this was passed? The surrounding houses have either blue slate or Yorkshire stone. There may have been some mysterious harking back to the site’s history as a quarry but in reality I’m baffled.

It doesn’t matter, though, we like the roof. The only problem we‘ve hit is wanting to have a rooflight put in. The Kingspan one for the 1000Zip shows a dome which would spoil the flow of the roof line. Our architect, Paul, pointed us in the direction of a number of websites and, bingo!, we found exactly what we wanted.

It only waits to be seen if our resubmission to planning for minor material changes allows a roof light.

Who know? They allowed a metal roof after all!

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