> Fen. 2, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 95
PLUMBING.—III.
(Continued from page 65.)
E come now to treat of roofs where the
material used by the plumber is lead,*
and shall take what may be called a plain roof
first, or one with two gables, in which are
the chimneys, and where the line of both
back and front gutters is uninterrupted in its
whole length, of which this gives section,
inside gutter valley In this case M is the stone cornice on top of front wall, in which the valley for the gutter N is cut out, say, to a depth of one inch at its upper end, and getting gradually deeper towards showing front and back gutters. the end or place where water runs off, so that at deeper end its depth may be about 3 inches, while throughout it may have a - uniform breadth of, say, 5 inches. The roof comes down, as shown at O, and it becomes necessary, therefore, to lay lead, so as both to convey away rain-water and to do its part in keeping things water-tight at junction of roof with wall-head. For this purpose the lead has to go across cornice and up about 6 inches on to roof, as shown by dotted line. The breadth of lead in this case will, there- fore, be about 2 feet, which is made up by 1 inch bent down over front, 5 inches from front to edge of gutter valley, 8 inches for gutter valley, and the other 10 inches is taken up by the 4 inches from back edge of gutter valley to roof and 6 inches 6 up the roof (see ' > 8 sketch). A gutter about 48 feet long may be put on in either two or three pieces. If we say three pieces, that, if all are cut to same length, gives about 16 feet for each, and if the weight of lead be 7lbs. per square foot, each piece will weigh about 2 cwt. The lead being carried up to roof is then rolled out there, near, or just above where itis to go, each piece by itself, and after being ‘‘dressed” or beaten out flat it is then marked off where to be bent up in a manner suitable to its intended site. For the gutter we are speaking of the mark—at deeper end—is set at 10 inches from the front at one end and 9 inches from the front at other end, after which the lead alongits whole length is bent up accord- ing to mark (as in sketch). It is then lifted down and set
in stone, and being bent back and over it is then properly ‘ dressed” into its place, and afterwards cut or pared evenly along edges. When measuring off the length of lead, allowance must be made for any upstand or turn-over at ends of gutter, accord- ing as the sitemay require. After the gutter has been laid the ‘‘ doubling” or long narrow wooden fillet for slates has then to be put on allalong upper edge, except about 6 inches at each end where skew ‘flashings’” come
- In our last, when treating of ornamental iron gutters,
We omitted to state that, in order to give them a fair chance to do duty in lieu of stone cornices, they ought to be painted stone-colour, so as to correspond with the rest of front of building. We have observed that this is often neglected, but consider that to be in great measure an oversight of the architect, for we can hardly suppose otherwise than that a word from him would not only have set that right, but also thereby given fair play to his own design.
down—i.e., if said ‘‘ flashings” go underneath
slates. This ‘ doubling,” so distinguished
because the lead is doubled back over it, is of
any length, its section being a right-angled
triangle, with the base or breadth about two
inches, and the perpendicular or depth about
five-eighths of an inch.
Where the ends of lead gutter pieces meet
they must be soldered, it being understood
that the stone is cut out a little ucderneath
the joint, so that solder may be ‘‘ flush ” or
level, especially in gutter valley. Where the
joint is soldered thus it both looks neater and
forms no obstacle to water running off freely.
We may here describe the operation of
joining two lead gutter pieces in situ. After
the lead is put into its proper place, as
described above, its surface for about four
inches on each side of joining is rubbed with
a piece of card and chalk to take off the
grease, &c.; it is then on same space painted
over with ‘‘ smudge,” a mixture of lamp-black,
glue, or size, and sour beer or water, boiled
together, and after said ‘‘ smudge” has been
dried, say with an hot iron, about one inch
back from each edge is then cleanly scraped
with the ‘‘shavehook,” and to prevent its
being tarnished or oxidised it is immediately
rubbed over with fresh grease, often a piece
of tallow candle. The solder pot and solder-
ing irons in the interim being properly
heated, the plumber, by means of his small
iron ladle, powrs a sufficient quantity of solder
on to the joint (not merely as much as makes
the joint, but sufficient to raise a heat, all
surplus being returned to the pot), and then,
by help of the red-hot irons and his soldering
cloth, he makes his joint.* These soldering
cloths, which area sine qué non with all plumbers,
are merely pieces of folded moleskin or strong
linen, of four, eight, or twelve thicknesses, and
various sizes to suit the particular work. Old
moleskin trousers, and old aprons considered
to have served their day upon the plumber’s
person, are afterwards torn up and made to
do duty as ‘‘ soldering cloths.” ‘These cloths
are kept well greased on the side which comes
in contact with the solder, so as to prevent
solder adhering to them. The following
rough sketch shows a plumber’s chaffer-pan,
P, as used on roofs, &c. It stands in centre
of a large iron tray, Q, in which is water, so that any hot cinders falling out may be at once quenched. ‘The soldering iron, R, is all of malleable iron, and is what is used along with solder heated in the pot. A distinction must be made between this soldering ‘ iron ” and the soldering ‘“ bolt,” the latter being made with a copper head and iron handle. A plumber’s copper “bolt” is made some- thing like a hatchet, on account of which shape it is often designated the ‘ hatchet- bolt ;” this appellation also serves to distin- guish between it and the ‘ pointed” or ‘straight bolt,” the latter shape of copper bolt being that generally used in gas-fitting. As observed above, it is hot or melted solder that is used along with ‘“‘iron,” whereas the solder used along with the “bolt” is cold and generally in the form of strips, or, as for gas-fitting, in small thin cakes. To return to our gutter. We had got the front gutter laid, and a similar course has now to be adopted with the back gutter S, only, as there is here less breadth of stone to be
+ In dry weather this is easily done; but should it come on wet it is very disagreeable, both taking more time and solder, and not making such a neat job.
covered, the lead may be narrower, say 18in.
in breadth. The length of back gutter is also
sometimes less than the front, owing to the
back stone skew-coping coming down to out-
side edge of back gutter, and so forming ends
of gutter up against which the lead at each
end has to be turned. Whereas in front this
stone ‘‘skew” or skew-coping stops off per-
pendicular with line of wall, the cornice, in-
cluding gutter valley, being beyond it.
Afterlaying the gutters, the lead ‘ flashings,”
which extend up roof from each end of both
back and front gutters, have then to be put on
(we are supposing them to be put on as is
often done, before and underneath the slates).
In this case twelve pieces of lead are required ;
four for the ‘‘ flashings” for ‘‘skews” which
extend from gutter to chimneys; four pieces
for the ‘‘berges,” or breaks, or projections at
chimneys; and four for the flashings up sides
of chimneys. ‘These, for the different places,
are of different lengths and breadths. The
flashings for ‘‘ skews” T, being, say 11ft. long
and 13in. broad, this 13in. is taken up by 6in.
on roof, 4in. up side of skew, and 3in. on top
of skew, including half-inch bent down in
raggle. This ‘“‘skew” or stone-coping of
gable wall T, as shown by sketch, is generally
only half the breadth of chimney, the latter
being about 2ft. broad, or the same thickness
as the gable wall. ‘The lead “ berge” U goes
where skew and chimney meet, and is put
on so as to overlap top of skew-flashiug, and
at same time be itself overlapped by the
flashing of chimney V, which comes down on
it. This ‘‘berge” U has also to overlap small
portion of slating, as may be understood from
its position on sketch.
The dotted line shows margin of lead flash-
ings on roof, as also at the same time the
situation of ‘doubling’—except ‘‘berge”
below chimney, which, as was observed above,
goes on top of slates. The ‘ doubling” being
put onthus, a channel for the water is formed
between it and the chimney and side of
skew. ‘The lead for each berge, on account
of its situation, has to be fully 2ft. broad and
about 13in. deep; its depth is taken up by
Sin. or 9in. on roof and 4in. or 5in. up face of
chimney. When berge is being fitted in its
place a piece of board about Sin. thick is put
temporarily under it so as to make berge fit
the slates properly. After berge is fitted the
chimney flashing V is then put in; its length
is, of course, just according to size of chimney.
We shall say that in this case, including over-
laps, it is about 8ft. long, and its breadth will
be about 104in., Gin. on roof and din, up
chimney side to raggle, the other }in. going
into raggle. This raggle isa narrow shit cut
in stone about }in. wide and in. deep, into
which the lead is turned
and fixed with lead bats
every Gin. or so, after
which the raggle is
filled with mastic to keep
it water-tight. The dia-
gram is section of skew,
showing raggle at W, the dotted line X being
the lead, all water in this skew-flashing X run-
ning down it goes immediately into gutter
