18.10.07, the roof works started in earnest.

From Pete Snock, our on-the-spot reporter....

Report from Stoke Mandeville.
Things are really starting to happen at the ranges!

I arranged with Rosie Hughes, the group coordinator, to meet her and her husband Keith at the ranges today, because the company who are doing the roof re-covering work, started today.

I met up with Keith and Rosie, who'd got their slightly before me, at about 11:15 this morning. The lads from the spraying company had been there long enough to set their gear up and have a cuppa whilst 'scoping the joint.

They gave me quite a concise run down of the process involved and it sounds very impressive! Basically it's a resin-based foam application which offers good insulative and waterproofing properties; just what they need down at Stoke Mandeville!!

It's applied via a compressed air line, through a spray gun attached to a very bulky hose. The actual foam seems to be made from a two-pack mixture of a resin and and another, ammonia-like smelling chemical. It doesn't smell too fragrant, but hey...what does that matter!

It's dried in about 10 seconds, so there's no problem with runs or poor coverage, as they can simply blast a load more gear onto the area affected.
They have to prepare the surface, of course, so all the lichen and moss has to be removed from the asbestos sheeting, otherwise the foam won't adhere to the surface and it could cause a blow hole where the moisture stops the foam curing. One of the lads was clearing the vegetation from the roof as his mate was laying it on. Sorted!

They were rained-off yesterday, for the reasons above, so they were anxious to start work because of scheduling issues with head office. Then they couldn't access some parts of the roof because of frosty patches which hadn't yet been melted by the morning sun. This wouldn't have been a problem by midday, so they didn't have long to wait.

The next part of the process involves painting the hardened foam basecoat with an aluminium rubber-based paint, to further seal the building from the elements. I can't remember what this stuff is called, but it comes in 25ltr drums and there's lots of it!! The painting will be done by another bunch of lads from the same company in the next few days. Hopefully I will get along for more stories and pictures then.

They were quite surprised, as I was, that there are few parts of the roof which are strong enough to support the weight of a person, but even so, they must tread carefully. That roof is 50+ years old!
Rosie told me that she always has reservations about workmen being less-than-honest, but her fears soon dissolved when the older of the two blokes pointed out, just by looking at the roof, where the leaks were coming from; that put her mind at rest.

Lots of large tins

Basecoat

That's a long one!

Hard at work


With silver topcoat

Drainage was less than impressive