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Converted Textile Mill Apartments

Concrete Artificial Roofing Example

Fibre cement slate roofing on converted Textile Mill apartment complex in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

• Commercial property development
• Roof area: 980 metres squared of roof (both buildings).
• A textile mill converted into modern residential apartments for sale.
• Existing Yorkshire stone slates were removed and returned for savage.
• Existing unsound roof structures stripped off and disposed of.
• Internal steel frame and new roof timber structure installed by the main contractor.
• K-Roofing Contractors install new roofing system onto the structure.

Roofing Membrane

• A waterproof, breathable roofing membrane was trimmed to relevant sizes to ensure total roof coverage.
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• The roofing membrane was attached to the new roof timber structure using wooden battons which were securely fixed at the correct gauges.

Slating for Diminishing Random Effect

• Gauges are based on the slate height with the largest slates at the bottom and smaller slates to the top - this gives the roof a diminishing random effect.
• Alumiumium seamless gutters and matching alumiumium down pipes were supplied and installed. The guttering is in deep profile to accommodate for the large rainwater catchment area of the roof.

Roofing Services - Diminishing Slate Roof

• Velux™ windows were 'trimmed out' (a timber frame was created that will accommodate the rooflight) into the roof structure awaiting window installation.
• New artificial glass reinforced cement slates were loaded onto the scaffold
• Roofers secured these artificial slates in place above the wooden battons using plastic slate pegs.
• battons and slates were laid in course according to the manufacturers instructions. Instructions are based on:
  • the type of roof effect required
  • the selection of product
  • the local environmental conditions
  • the sizes of the slates
  the resulting effect is called a 'diminishing slate roof' where the size of slate diminishes towards the apex of the roof.

Leadwork and Window Installation

• Sheet lead was installed in all roof valleys.
• The Velux skylight windows were installed with their appropriate flashings kits into the pre-trimmed locations within the roof structure.
• Lead aprons, soakers and flashings were fitted to all chimney stacks as and when the slating reached it.
• Ridge tiles were loaded onto the roof and fully bedded in cement. The sides and collars of the ridges are skimmed with cement to prevent ingress of water.
• The strap verges are fixed in cement. These provide full weaherproofing to the verges (edges).
• Along the main mill building runs a deep gully where the two roofs slope down. On each end of this roof gully an ornate lead rainwater outlet was created and installed. The outlet is formed from sheet lead that is welded and then dressed (positioned). Stepped flashings ensuring full weather protection to existing stone work around the outlet feature.

Patio Flat Roof System

• A flat roof patio was installed which was required to fully drain, allow human traffic and be aesthetically pleasing
• A 3 layer roofing felt system was installed with a flagstone decking.
• The flat roof system was fully bonded using hot buitumen 'hot works' to the entire flat roof area.
• Felt upstands were installed to all of the perimiters.
• Ornate flagstones were supplied and installed to the patio deck area.
• 225mm Lead flashings were installed above felt upstands to provide full weather proofing.

Storage Buildings

• Around the complex are a number of small storage buildings constructed by main contractor that required roofs being installed.
• Prefabricated roof trusses were supplied and placed in alignment, fixed and braced. This created the new roof structure which was to take the roof system.
• Breathable, waterproof roof membrane was trimmed to size, wooden battons were securely fixed at the correct horizontal gauges and used to mechanically fix the membrane along the roof. Glass reinforced cement slates (identical to the Mill slates) were installed using plastic slate pegs.
• The strap verges were installed in cement to provide full weatherproofing.