Great Yarmouth History

Friday 5th October 2012

Replacing the Slates

A start has been made on tiling the roof which should take about a fortnight. It has not been possible to use the original slates, which were kept, as present building regulations forbid their use owing to their weight.

The way the old roof was fixed to the building meant it was producing outward forces on the wall which would eventually have led to collapse, sooner rather than later. This was the reason the roof was removed immediately the work started on the restoration. The site was too dangerous to work in with the roof in place.

The new roof structure is to the same design as the original roof. However the new roof is considerably stronger than the original mainly because of the steel plates that are supporting the joints.

A roof's own weight tries to force the rafters downwards and outwards. The steel plates you can see in the pictures constrain the outward forces so the weight of the roof is vertically downwards. Since the walls are capable of carrying this weight the new roof should last longer than the old one, which itself lasted 150 years.

View from Riverside Road, Gorleston. Roofers in Action. View from on the Sea Wall. Roof Trusses with Original Ironwork. Closeup of Roof Trusses. How the roof is supported - See next pictures. Each of the uprights sits on the steel girders on the lower floor which take the weight of the roof. Thinking about the next job. Jim and Asa fixing a steel roof support. Closeup of Roof Trusses. Asa makes a point. Deciding whats's next. Asa drilling, Jim supervising. Jim checking on the Roofer's progress. The new brickwork colour matches the lettering on the Old Gorleston Lifeboat House sign. View of the progress from the road end of the building. View of the progress from the river end of the building. The south side of the building - awaiting slates. Asa on a mission. Asa and Jim stop for a photo.

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