The original roofs were of slate, which was relatively
light, waterproof and lasted a good many years, the evidence for which can
still be seen in places, concrete tiles are now the popular choice for
reason of economics, even though they are slightly porous and considerably
heavier.
The timbers in the our attic supporting the roof covering
are actually 2" x 3", a light structure presumable allowed by the relative
lightness of slate, which meant in preparation for the heavier concrete
covering (and to meet the inspector's approval ) a certain amount of
reinforcement of the attic timbers had to be implemented. Beams were place
under the joists running from fire wall to fire wall and stretchers and
props positioned in various places. The new roof also benefited from a layer
of under felt which was not present in the original structure.
While the roof was being renovated we took the
opportunity to have a Velux window installed, even though a proper
conversion of the attic to say a bedroom was not feasible due to lack of
height, the window does make it much better when it comes to using the space
for storage etc. Opening the window in summer particularly, helps to dispel
the the stuffiness of the attic making it much pleasanter to work in.
The other thing to consider of course while working on the
roof was the state of the chimneys. Our chimneys, thankfully were in a
reasonable state with no more than a little re-pointing needed, in
retrospect though it might have been wise to treat them with a waterproofing
agent as since we have had a small ingress of water in that area which does
not seem to arise from damaged tiles or poor flashing and a roofer has
suggested to us that the problem might possibly be down to porous bricks in
the chimney stacks - we will see.