Wooden roof for a wooden house

 

Massive shingle xylophone

We made a massive wooden xylophone on the roof of our house.

 

The upper roof of our new house is covered in 7000 wooden shingles.  They are made from Sweet Chestnut which has similar preservation properties to Oak so they should last least 60-80 years.

 

Every shingle one has been split by hand by our friends in Devon (thanks Carl!).  Caitlin, Thea and Kitty have then dressed  and shaped each one individually using a drawknife on the the shave horse.  Then, each one had to find its own perfect place which was not always an easy task.  Being a natural handmade product, each one varied in width and thickness and so finding the right one for the right place became another skill .  They’re then fixed with stainless steel nails annular ring shank nails.

 

To my mind they look beautiful with thousands of different colours and patinations that change constantly in the weather.  The roof should weather to a greyish silver over time and is looking like a massive reptilian creature perched on the top of the hill.

 

Shingle heaven

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