Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/111

 > 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 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
 * In our last, when treating of ornamental iron gutters,