Since we brought the house in May, we have been the ultimate in party poopers. I’ve said no to birthday parties, family gatherings and even just countryside walks. Unfortunately, with only weekends to get the house done, it’s a necessary sacrifice, thankfully only for this short period of our lives.

Yet, there have been things that we just couldn’t bow out of, and since October we just seem to have had one thing after another which have collectively eaten up our time, from a sick dog to volunteer days to rugby tickets which had been reassigned after covid cancellations.

With only the odd weekend day, and a few evenings, progress has been frustratingly slow. All these unavoidable delays make this, our first full weekend in four weeks, feel like the unblocking of a stubborn drain.

Our first job was to finish installing our run of ridge tiles. The ridge tiles that we took down when disassembling the roof had been caked in cement, which needed to be chipped off before we could reinstall them. Getting the cement off was slow and back-breaking work, and unfortunately not all of the tiles survived the process. These broken tiles, plus those that broke when we took them off the roof, were surprisingly difficult to replace. Having searched through all the usual channels, we ended up at a roofing reclaimation yard. Even then the closest we could find was a similar shape and colour, but with a raised edge at one end, where it was supposed to overlap the next tile. Our only solution was to use an angle grinder to cut off this offending edge, making the tiles just similar enough to fit in with the remaining ones we had.

Fixing the ridge tiles in place was fairly simple. We stuck a breathable membrane along the edge of the ridge, which would allow moisture to escape from the attic. Chris had opted for a dry-fix system for attaching the ridge tiles. This involved securing them into place with a series of plastic clips, not overly difficult except for scrambling up and down scaffold boards to get the tiles in place.

The only complicated part was where the three ridges met, with the tiles needing to be cut so they fitted together as neatly as possible.

Having finished the ridge tiles, our next job was to install the guttering. At the back of the house there hadn’t been any guttering for a long time, and this had caused some serious issues with a iron support in the back wall, causing it to rust and swell. This, we believe, is the cause of many of the cracks we’ve found in the back wall.

One of the reasons we think no guttering was put in place is because, with guttering installed, the windows can’t open outwards fully. Our plans long-term are to install windows that open inwards, so we can have guttering but still enjoy some fresh air.

Technically, installing the guttering should have been fairly easy. We ran a string from one end of the roof to the other, using a level to check it was straight. With this as a guide we screwed the brackets in to place, slowly lowering them towards the end we wanted the water to run towards. Having painstakingly completed this task we clipped in the guttering and poured a bucket of water off the roof to check it ran the right way. The whole bucket emptied itself out in the opposite direction. Gravity it seemed disagreed with us. Luckily there were drains at either end of the roof, and it was agreed not to fight with nature, but let it run the way it wanted to. At the front of the house we had a little more luck, sending the water in equal parts left and right. Half will go into a new drain we will have to dig, and half into the garden.

Our final task on the roof was finishing the lead, and adding fresh mortar around the chimney pots. Having run out of ingredients for the mortar, I stopped by our neighbours to borrow a cup of… cement. Luckily for us she too is in the middle of a spot of DIY and had enough to share.

And that, amazingly, is that. We started the roof 4 months ago, in the blistering sun, and end it in the cold and rain. It has certainly been the toughest and most technical part of our restoration. I can’t say I’m sad to be moving on to something new, but it certainly has been an amazing experience to repair our own roof. Now we can move back inside, ready to take down walls, swap out stairs, and maybe even get some electricity back into the rest of the building.