Oxfordshire Woodland Group

31 July 2013

Ruth Goodfellow and Brian Williamson mobilised onto site at the beginning of August 2013 and work has now commenced to fix battens and oak shingles to the roof.

A scaffold has been erected around the cruck frame to provide safe access and egress to the roof and to help ensure that the shinglers can work safely on the roof with reduced risk of tumbling down the roof and falling to the ground below.

A set of larch roof battens (sawn and supplied by Phil Drew) are nailed to the common rafters and set 4 inches apart by Brian & Ruth.

The oak shingles were supplied by Matt Melton of the South Downs Greenwood Centre are fixed to the battens by nails with the shingles being pre drilled to help prevent the nails splitting of the shingles as they are driven through the shingle into the rafter.

The positioning and fixing of the shingles onto the battens is important since each shingle has been sponsored with the sponsors name written in a narrow band on the underside of the shingle which should match up with the gap between the battens.

Examination of the boxes of shingles reveals some of the sponsors names that will be visible from inside the finished cruck building.

The shingling project should be complete by mid August 2013.

06 Aug 2013

The weather has improved and now shingling is well underway.

The front roof is more advanced and is beginning to show more clearly how the finished roof will appear.

From inside the cruck frame the fully battened roof can now be seen

and an impression of how the underside of the roof will appear can now be gained.

Brian Williamson explained that it is important to commence shingling from the gable verges working inwards.

The lap and fixing of the verge shingles sets the pattern to be followed over the remainder of the roof.

Because the shingles are made from fairly thin straight grained oak that splits quite easily Ruth Goodfellow explained that it is best to predrill holes in the shingles prior to fixing them to the roof using stainless steel ringshank nails.

Care needs to be taken when working close to the edge of the roof whilst fixing the verge shingles.

The scaffold platform provides an excellent vantage point to take a close up photograph of oak shingle "wallpaper" that can be used in CAD models to produce life like 3D colour model renderings.

11 August 2013

Good progress has been made in applying shingles to the front roof and it is now nearing completion.

Care needs to be taken to knit together the two sides of the front roof

and Ruth Goodfellow trims a number of the closing shingles to ensure a perfect fit.

Watch Ruth in action making shingles at Westonbirt Arboretum.

Brian Williamson is working on the rear roof having trained some of the carpenters and arboretum staff about how to lay, fit and fix shingles.

Brian provides good clear advice on how to lay and fix an oak shingle roof.

With the front roof nearing completion a much better impression of the appearance of the underside of the roof can now be obtained.

14 August 2013

The front roof is now complete.

The rear roof is almost complete with only a small closure to be made near the ridge.

Work has commenced on the halp hip roof.

From inside the detail of the roof hip is clearer.

The shingles overhang the rafter feet and battens fixed to same.

The view of the underside of the front roof is now final.

The view of the interior is almost final with only minor shingles to be added, the ridge to be capped and the scaffold to be removed.

Ken Hume
Executive Trustee - Oxfordshire Woodland Group