Roof: Part 5 - Trim and guttering

Hindsight can be a blessing, but it can also be a curse. The amount of visible pins in the box ends always bothered Alan (though I don't think many people would even notice these details). So just before the roof was finished Alan took it upon himself to re-do them, this time using carefully concealed fixings.






Ta-da! Pin-free.




A view of the east side of the house. The new house seems to dwarf our old house behind it.




We originally wanted to use a dry verge to seal the gap between the bottom of the slates and the top of the bargeboard, however none of the products we looked at were really suitable so we decided to make up our own trim panels.

Alan fixed the trim at the top of the gable end...




...while I fixed it at the bottom.




It was really tricky to attach and of course the cold winds didn't help.




Ta-da! Trim panels all done (though I give it a month before Alan wants to re-do them).




With the roof completed we needed to get the guttering up quickly to stop rainwater pouring off all the new slates onto the timber frame below.

With our relatively tight budget we thought our only option was to use plastic gutters and downpipes, however after lots of research (and a bit of bartering) we found that galvanised steel wasn't that much more expensive so we chose that instead.

Alan had never fitted gutters before but as usual spent hours researching how to do it on the internet - at least that's what he said he was doing :) The first job was to set out the gutter brackets allowing for a slight fall to help send the flow of rainwater to the downpipes.




Having set the height for both the highest and lowest brackets, the string line was stretched between them and used to mark the angle of the fall.




The remaining brackets were then attached following the level of the string line. Lots of brackets...




Once the brackets were up the Lindab steel guttering was quite straightforward to assemble with most parts simply clipping together.




The only fiddly bit was cutting the holes for the downpipes. Apparently the heat from power tools can damage the galvanised coating (internet research strikes again) so Alan used tinsnips and a hacksaw.






The gutters for the front of the house completed.




Same again for the back of the house - the brackets were set out using a string line.




Alan remarked that his school metalwork teacher wouldn't believe his eyes if he saw this.




It is important to cut the gutter straight to avoid leaks forming where they join.




As it was the highest point of the gutter run, the corner section below the valley was a bit of a tight fit.






The back of the house completed.

The east side only needed a short section of guttering.

Ta-da! The guttering is all complete.