Moving to Orkney

Well it's that time of year I have to start on my annual roof paint.

As you can see from the pic our house is a very old croft style house with a stone roof. The house its self is very solid with nearly two foot thick walls and aforementioned stone roof.

The roof is composed of stone slabs, some nearly a metre square and I think this is where the problem starts. Because of the size of these slabs the amount that they expand and contract with the changes in temperature is enough to constantly crack the pointing where these slabs/tiles overlap. This leads to minor leaks. Nothing really serious and watching the news over the last couple of years, one or two buckets in strategic places is nothing compared to what some have had to put up with up and down the country with flooding as widespread as it has been.

Some time in the past (at least 8 - 10 years ago) the roof was painted. So I thought we'll give it a whirl and duly applied a coat of proprietary roof paint. Voila! no leaks. Job done.

That was three years ago, and every year by summer, you'd barely know that the roof had been painted.  I suppose being this close to the sea we're constantly blasted by salt and sand, and it just gets worn away.

So each year it's on with another coat. I have considered a new roof, but I would really like to keep the original. Oh, and it's too expensive. You can by a lot of paint for the cost of a new roof!

So this year I'm on my third make of roof paint and we'll see how this one fairs.

Wish me luck... 

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