About three weeks ago, at 4.00 am in the morning, a terrific wind suddenly caused quite a lot of damage. It lasted for about 5 minutes, and was accompanied by the sound of thumps and crashes. There was little I could do at that time of day, so I did my best to ignore it.
When light the following morning, I went out to find broken tiles all over the place, and the 'tower' roof in a rather strange state of disrepair. The tiles had fallen all around The Compact Royce, but not on it. There were also quite a few tiles off our covered terrace roof, but none off the house itself.
On the front of the small building, the two lots of ridge tiles which go up to the pinnacle were completely missing; from bottom to top. They had all been ripped off with force.
When I originally roofed it, I made sure that there was a totally waterproof membrane covering the timbers, so I knew that there was no risk of rain getting in, and there was no immediate rush to repair it.
My roofer has now been, and all is back to normal. He said that as I'd done that particular part of my roofing on a very hot day, the heat had killed the mortar, and it had become no more than lumps of dust; a disaster waiting to happen.
Luckily our wonderful village roofer, Olivier, saved the day, and my roof is once again back to normal. You might have to enlarge the picture to see what I'm talking about.
Look on the bright side, Cro: At least you weren't hit on the head.
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Thank goodness it didn't happen in daytime too. That would have been even more scary!
DeleteWhat a pretty roof, and now looking in good repair. I don't like strong winds. Too many memories of being in a caravan in the middle of the 2009 hurricane!
ReplyDeleteIt was a freak wind, no-one else in the area experienced anything quite like it.
DeleteThat must have been scary. Thank goodmess everyone was safe indoors at that time of day - no human or animal were hurt. Greetings Maria x
ReplyDeleteHorrible; I really hate strong wind like that. It has such destructive force.
DeleteThe only advantage of being very deaf Cro is that I take my hearing aid out when I go to bed and I don't think I would hear if a tornade blew through. I hate strong winds too.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways I quite like to hear wind, but there's a point when it becomes too much.
DeleteI feel for you. Hope the repair process isn't a nightmare. It gets blowey here too. Ihave a nightmare keeping my bin from toppling and spewing rubbish and I had a tile blown down the other day. Seems trivial when compared to what's happened to you.
ReplyDeleteIt only took a day to put it back to how it was; and not too expensive, thank goodness.
DeleteThank goodness The Compact Royce didn't get damaged !! We had a new roof a couple of years ago. Before that though,when it was very windy at night { ooooer missus !! } we used to lay in bed with our fingers crossed, hoping the whole roof wouldn't blow away or that loose tiles wouldn't damage the cars below !!!! One did damage the roof of a car once !!
ReplyDeleteGood that yours is now fixed and you can rest easy now Cro. XXXX
It was a miracle that the Car wasn't damaged. A few of the flat tiles had to be replaced where the others had blown onto them. Yup, the roof should now be good for another 50 years at least.
DeleteAh yes - mortar drying-out before it has cured. Along with frost damage by expansion, this is a danger in the wrong weather conditions. I hope you don't find this observations too irritating, but I am constantly advising others about the best way to handle mortars.
ReplyDeleteI've learnt my lesson. All the rest of the mortar was OK.
DeleteI hate micro-bursts like that; we narrowly escaped having part of a barn roof sail through our windows and into the living room a few years ago. As it was, a lovely old oak was decapitated.
ReplyDeleteSeeing stuff flying about is really frightening. On this particular occasion I'd imagined it was a tree causing the noises; I was quite surprised to see that it was the roof.
DeleteIn the midwest this is a normal occurrence. From around March through July we scan the horizon for twisters, and if we see the hint of one in the clouds or on radar, it's almost a surreal 'thrill' game of watching and waiting. Almost sounds like that's what you had, Cro! Welcome to Kansas.
ReplyDeleteIt was very short, almost like a twister had passed through. I've seen water spouts in the Caribbean; nasty.
DeleteI hate the wind also as so much expensive damage is often the result.
ReplyDeleteToo true, although my own damage wasn't over expensive to remedy.
DeleteThe wind in Oklahoma is legend. Usually just a nuisance, the people with coifed hair hate it.
ReplyDeleteMy hair would probably improve with some wind.
DeleteWe had the roof of a long pole barn lift off in high winds and the whole lot end up in a meadow 200 yards away. We retrieved it and nailed the corrugated sheets back on again.
ReplyDeleteWe've lost a parasol in the past. Never seen again.
DeleteThat tiled roof is so attractive, it would have been a shame to have had that very loud bump in the night cause more serious damage.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that Olivier might be a bit busy now, tending to other roofing renewals around your area.
Over here in NYC when the winds are very strong, the danger comes from giant construction cranes and construction materials not adequately secured way up high.
In general, I avoid city blocks where those mammoth cranes are parked.
I hope that March will take on lamb's clothing for its eventual yielding to April's showers around your area. Well, forget that bit about more showers.
Best wishes.
Dear Olivier is always busy, but he's very good and will always find time to help. It pays to use village tradesmen; and to pay them promptly.
DeleteThose huge cranes always worry me. I've seen so many of them fall over, even without strong wind.
Living in the Outer Hebrides with frequent storms and even hurricanes one realises just why the old houses were built the way they were. The power of the wind is awesome (in the true sense of the word).
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