More home hunting

Whilst looking around St Helena last week I saw the house pictured above. It is a decent house in a very nice town and seems to have plenty of scope for the type of work I like to do (major rebuild/renovation). There is nothing special about the house except (for me anyway)the galvanised or zinc roof.Outside of commercial applications I have not really seen this type of roof used on a domestic building or at least one of period appearance. Does anybody have any experience of these materials? I'd be interested to know how they work as I want to try new products,styles and materials when I buy my new house. I'm not looking to buy a house with such close neighbours like the one shown but I don't mind if the roof is made of what is to a brick and stone man such as myself an exotic material!

Limey

It looks like the unseasonal weather we are having is going to give me a chance to start my yearly repointing early.The pic above is of the back of my current project house,its a gothic/queen Anne, Victorian confection built in 1850 by the usual culprit...a wealthy Liverpool merchant.Built on the Wirral to escape Liverpools pollution it has stood up to the rigours of the last century or so quite well.The major task at hand is the removal of cement pointing some misguided idiot has liberaly annointed the house with in the not too distant past.The hard mortar has caused the stonework of the house to start spalling and I need to replace it as soon as possible.I quite enjoy the solitary task of getting up rather high ladders(screw the elf and safety) and removing the offending mortar with various purpose specific tools.I use a lime mortar to replace the cement which means due to its nature its best I do this job in spring and autumn as Lime doesn't like heat or frost as it cures over time by reacting with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.Its a labourious task that usually ends up with the lime eating away the flesh on my hands but it does leave the house looking fit to last another hundred years...unlike me.

Rotten luck

Finally finished off stripping turret roof on a late Victorian house today whilst taking advantage of rather good weather. Unfortunately the dreaded rot had taken hold and nasty surprises lurked in every piece of the structure....so it all has to be rebuilt.Just for once I'd like a simple repair..mind you not bad I suppose after being exposed to Liverpools maritime winters for over 120 years.I,ve only been through 40 odd of these winters and I'm ready to fly south at a moments notice! The housing market seems to be throwing up some surprises too...I have had offers on four houses this week..in contrast to offers on two houses in previous year.Do these people know something I don't?....if so...tell me.I don't think that interest rate drop has been big enough yet to account for this and I doubt Liverpools capital of culture status has contributed much.ha!....oh well time to take the money and run.